Thought for the Day: Nostalgia is a lie

Thought for the Day: Nostalgia is a lie
September 15, 2008

First things first:
Today's theme is "The Good Old Days".

I have been pondering the whole "next decade of my life" thing a bit lately.  I'm not doing too much of it mind you, because I had already sort of started it when I got engaged and also, there's the whole revising the World History curriculum as we go along thing, but yeah, I've been thinking about what I would like the future to look like and part of that means looking back at the past and figuring out what I want to carry forward and what I want to leave behind.

Maybe that's what makes it easier to decide you're no longer interested.  Maybe that's what makes it easier to make a semi-clean break via the means of apathy.  Maybe that's what makes it easier to know that the people you want to see will still be there, while excising those whom your life is likely better off without, and certainly less frustrating without.

And really, for the first time in my life, I am OK without it.  I don't miss it and maybe that was the last sign I needed that I no longer needed it.  Because it certainly no longer needed me.  I just need to tell myself that things weren't so much better in the past, they were just a different kind of frustration.  Things change, people change, and the world continues on without you, very likely not even noticing you were gone.  Maybe that's what I have gained from this last year, I am learning to say no to things without feeling guilty about it.

So that's it.  I'm not making some big declaratory about it, I'm not saying never, I'm just saying, I'm done for now and the foreseeable future.

So I will learn to live without it. Because I can live without it. I can live without it...

That's all for today, until next time,
I am Craig Barker, moving forward