Whether it's due to my particular frame of mind at the moment, or due to the fact that there actually is a trend, it seems like I have run across the phrase "in happier times" quite a lot recently.
What's That Mean?
It prompted me to pause for a moment to consider whether this idea that we had "happier times" at some unspecified point in our pasts is really more of an illusion than an actual reality.
I have no doubt that there are definitely people out there who have had happier times in their past because they're going through something particularly traumatic at the moment. That's not in question.
What I'm thinking about here are the many situations in which it seems like people are looking to the past and declaring it "happier," mostly as a result of the "Rose Colored Glasses of Passing Time" we invariably end up wearing because our memories of something that happened long ago aren't as sharp as they once were.
As somebody who is often given to daydreaming, I know that when I think back to something that seemed like "happier times," I am usually just distracting myself. And, most of the time, I'm remembering specific events in the past that definitely were happy but that doesn't mean that the entire period back then was really any happier than the current day. It's just the one event that stands out.
That said, I have little doubt that the fact that more people seem to be looking back fondly to times in the past speaks rather loudly to the fact that overall life is pretty difficult for many folks, these days. And, perhaps, we all need a bit of a break from working our fingers to the bone everyday merely to make sure the electricity stays turned on.
But what are we really talking about when we think about happier times?
For me, I can invariably trace it back to a wish for fewer responsibilities and less debt! But that's really just a part of being an adult, isn't it? When we're kids we have very few responsibilities and it seems like a carefree time when we look back from 20, 30, 40, 50 years hence.
Of course, I'm not suggesting there is anything wrong with having "Golden Memories" of the past. I have lots of fond memories of the past, but I try to not confuse them with being so much happier than the present that I start thinking of the present as loathsome and something I want to get away from.
Because it really isn't!
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Created at 2024-02-28 01:32 PST
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