Inspired by The Good Place
I run and run and cannot be stopped
I am something you cannot buy
I am something that cannot be taught
I am difficult to measure
Seen as a hidden treasure
But to have more of me is always a pleasure
No one can own me
Despite the many that plea
I am always and forever free
I am the most precious thing to humanity
They do not understand my prime
For I am everyone’s time
Photo from Unsplash by Andrey Andreyev
Let us start with an exercise: First, you must close your eyes and clear your head of everything (very similar to meditation). Second, I want you to picture the most peaceful setting on the planet, it may be the mountains, a plain, a small town, or even a big city. Third, I want to think of the people in this peaceful place, how are they interacting with each other? How are they grouped? What are they talking about?. Fourth, I want you to think of outside factors, such as entertainment, social media, and political entities; how are they operating in a peaceful setting? Last, take everything that you just pictured and throw it all away.
For those who were not expecting the last part, I wanted you to imagine a perfect world for just a moment but to also realize that it was all in your head. There is nothing wrong with having a strong desire to have a perfect world, but, the truth is that we do not live in a world that can ever be perfect for everybody. There will always be dissatisfaction to some degree whether it be “The sky is too blue”, “These people chew too loud”, or “I want more money but don’t want to put in the work to get it.” It can very much go back to the classic Yin and Yang that is used in various forms of ancient Chinese philosophy. The idea that opposing forces must exist in some form of duality with one another; peace cannot exist without chaos, love cannot exist without hate, and light cannot exist without darkness. To put it simply, everything that exists in our world will always have an opposite even if you narrow it down to the smallest details. So, why did I title this Utopia: Explained?
Truthfully, I believe that anyone can create their ideal world and life if they really put their minds to it. You do not need to make the world perfect for EVERYONE, you need to make YOUR world perfect for yourself. Sounds a bit selfish? Let me ask you this, do you think everyone in this world cares if you disappeared or if something bad happens to you? Unfortunately, the answer is no but, that is perfectly fine. You were not born to please everyone but, you can however; please those who see the value in you as a person. You do not need a million people to love you, just a few. You do not need a fancy car or a mansion, you just need a simple house or apartment where you can bring the people who matter in your life into your world. The people who are there, the space you make for yourself, and the outside world you choose to surround yourself in whether it be a rural area or a big city, that is the utopia that you have been searching for.
Speaking for myself, I can honestly say that I have 2 or 3 friends that I can genuinely trust, I have family in my life that is encouraging and not toxic, and I WILL live in a place where I feel at peace (not there yet since moving is expensive). I stopped talking to people who cause problems in their own life, people who criticize my endeavors, and go places that make me feel at peace instead of in a mist of chaos AKA clubs, music festivals, etc. Not against the concept but, having been there and done that, I have no interest in that atmosphere anymore. Once you realize that the utopia you are so desperate to create is in your hands rather than tossing the ball to another person to get their input, only then can you truly live in that paradise that you dream to be at.
Food for thought.
Photo by Travis Yewell on Unsplash
The start of the new decade has put everyone’s mental health in an unpredictable tail spin. With the unknowns of normalcy lingering on everyone’s head, we all need some kind of relief. A possible solution? Taking a trip back in time; back to when things were at its most simple. Whether it be those 80s and 90s TV shows, movies, and music that bring us back or going through an old photo album to bring those carefree moments that the world felt like it was in an equilibrium. While this trip down memory lane may seem like a solution, like anything there is such a thing as too much of a good thing. Let’s explore.
Take Me Back
Nostalgia is capable of giving us that small kick of relief from the good times that we return back to. Sometimes, we think about that time we took that road trip and got into all kinds of trouble, or we think about that time we celebrated a friend’s birthday and ended up in a VIP area, or we think about that time that we were at that family party with our friends just being happy. Nostalgia has been shown to be beneficial whenever we are going through transitional and traumatic periods in our life; right now has been one of the biggest transitions and while it has made it hard to feel that much needed sentimentality, we can always turn to old entertainment that was there to make us feel carefree. Watching The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air, Boy Meets World, Sister Sister, Caso Cerrado, or any other show that you watched during your adolescence that gives that warm fuzzy feeling can help you get that emotion going. Your emotional state will become more stabilized with the reassurance of the small things that have helped create the person you are. We are still the kid that won the science fair, that kid who was dancing on their bed to their childhood songs, and the person who gave money to that homeless mother. You can feel how far you have come from the simplest things that have been a part of your growing experience. However, nostalgia can also suck us into the past and make it difficult for us to move forward.
Too Much of A Good Thing
While those emotions that are evoked through nostalgia can help us get through our next coming of age chapter, it can prevent us from continuing to write our story. Personal nostalgia and historic nostalgia are two very different things. The personal nostalgia we feel with memories and entertainment is looking back at how far we have come while historic nostalgia can trap us in a completely different chapter in our lives. Historic nostalgia tends to be rereading the same chapter, over and over again. That ideal world that you once lived in, may it be living in another country, college dorm years, or that year you were top in your class; they have passed because you have evolved past that. Our evolution is something to smile about because they consist of a series of memories that we fondly look back on to help motivate us into the future. We need nostalgia at the end of the day to reflect on ourselves but, the temptation of recreating a world that doesn’t exist anymore, it will only hurt you in the end.
Moving Forward
The best way to describe nostalgia is bittersweet, it is the happy memories that fuel the pleasant emotions and the passing time that makes it so hard to believe the moment has passed. While we need those nostalgic moments in our lives to remind us how wonderful it has been, it helps fuel the greatness we have within ourselves to create more moments of achievements, laughter, and happiness that we can look back and continue to see how we try to be a better version of ourselves everyday.
Source: The Conversation
