Ok...this may sound a little weird...but I find myself living in the past a lot lately.
I'm not real old...(I'm 45) but I live in the past. Alot. I have a sweetie whom I love,two kids, a big old farmhouse of my own (well-I'm paying on it...)...but I seem to be on a big time nostalgia thing....;I miss the past.
I was watching my son Jed running down the street to his friend Donny's house this afternoon to play...and thought-"Man...to run like that again...to be free and uncarung about politics, the past or the future...just to run...to be so ...I dunno ... alive...
cripes...I sound like a Ray Bradbury excerpt from 'Dandolion Wine'....
well...any way...does anybody else get as misty as me about the past?
Quote from: RCMerchant on February 23, 2008, 11:25:41 PM
well...any way...does anybody else get as misty as me about the past?
Yeah, sometimes... course, mainly because my present kind of sucks in some ways and I'm sometimes worried about the future.
But, besides that, I miss being a kid too sometimes... miss my innocence, miss playing with my two best friends, and having definite dreams of what I wanted to do when I "grew up".
It's funny you should bring it because I did a video about that subject for one of my college classes. I went back to the town I grew up (was there till late fifth grade), and stopped by my old house and elementary school, filming various things and commenting on them.
Been MEANING to upload that video to youtube, but I gotta figure out some way to compress a 2 gigabyte MOV file to a 100 Meg video without it looking too much like Legos. :)
But, yeah, I think we all feel that way sometimes about the past.
I think everybody lives in the past to a certain degree. My wife and I listen to music from the '80s, dress (in some small degree) like it was still 1982, and love watching movies from that era. My parents are exactly the same way. I think everybody's parents are. When was the last time you saw a 60 year old guy listening to rap? :teddyr: We see our kids going through exactly the same stuff we went through and it makes us really nostalgic, we'll often sit around and fondly reminisce about that stuff for hours on end.
I think at our age (mid 40's) it's common to have a bit of a midlife crisis. Especially when you're constantly reminded by the kids of how exciting and carefree life used to be. I know I sometimes ask myself "Is this all that I'll ever be? Twenty years from now virtually nothing will have changed?" But, I dunno. It's the same for everybody, it's just life, and I'm pretty happy actually. Sounds like you are too RC.
I know what you mean, I get terribly homesick for the 1980's cometimes. Back when I was young and handsome and THIN . . .
I most assuredly live in the past as I enjoy doing my family history and I think of the hours and hours I spend with my older ancestors when I was young and never asked them about their life when they where young, or to ask them about their parents life and by the time I got old enough to care about that information, they had been long since dead. When I was young I had relatives still living that were born in the 1870's and when I knew them that were just old people.
Now I have but a very few older relatives left to quiz about the past. But as far as my own past goes, sure there are times I would like to go back and live it again, mainly to make a few different choices in life. I think most of us would like to use the do-over machine at some point or at the very least go back and enjoy a few things that we took for granted at the time.
I like to think back on what life was like, I can remember when owning a phone was a luxury that we couldn't afford, and when we finally got one it was a big black thing with a rotary dial. TV screens were small, round, and came in a large case that was filled with glowing vacuum tubes, the picture was black and white. I only needed 35 cents to see 2 movies (monsters and westerns), a short, cartoons, and my personal favorite "PREVIEWS OF COMING ATTRACTIONS", these were usually better than the movies themselves. Rock and roll was the devil's music, Chuck Berry was the spawn of Satan, and if you liked his music your brain had probably been destroyed by the demon weed marijuana. We also had polio, smallpox, and a lot of other nasty stuff that's now gone. Back then as a child life wasn't actually carefree, it was just that as a youngster your worries and priorities are different than when you're an adult. It amuses me some times to think about what my daughter will be calling "The Good Old Days". There is an up side to being an adult with a job, bills, a house, and a mortgage, if I want to on a cold rainy day like today I can turn the heater up to 80, turn on all the lights, open all the doors and windows, go stand on my front porch and shout out "YES, MOM AND DAD, I AM TRYING TO HEAT THE WHOLE D--- NEIGHBORHOOD!!"
I'm still pretty young but all of my youthful memories are the embarrassing things that I did because I was 6 and didn't know any better, if I could go back in time, I would smack myself.
The only time I live in the past (and make myself depressed in the process) is when I look in the mirror and I see what being a mother has done to my previously smokin hot bod. I miss the days when men would give me admiring looks and say lame things just to start a conversation :bluesad:
I think we all live in the past to some degree - I forget the term but from a Psychological stand point, we usually cling to that which was going on while we were coming of age, which is why I've locked onto the late 80s/early 90s as the best era ever, even though I'm looking at it through rose-tinted, plaid-wearing, grunge-listening glasses :)
But really, it seems like the first decade of the 2000s has been the meta-age; we've become absorbed with retroculture, which is great I think, but doesn't speak well for our current culture, but what do they expect with all these hallow cultural aspects of the current times. I mean, who's going to pop retro years from now about how cool it was that all these aneorexic bag of bones were so cool for being famous for...well, nothing heh. Basically, today has not much to offer - no rubics cube, no Pong, no pet rock, no mood rings lol.
Ok, maybe I'm being a little hard on the times of today but it always seems everyone is so spent on everything that we love old stuff. Maybe today's age does offer something and I'm just too old to notice those kind of things when I'm more concerned with paying my child's medical expenses, maintaining a secure job, and keeping the food on the table. Funny how life changes ya over time :) but I do think we're in a meta-culture decade to some degree.
Maybe culturally, things will start to change and soon. I guess it's up to us when it all comes down to it. Ok, I don't know what I'm talking about :)
You know, I was never all that happy in the past. I like life (and myself) a hell of a lot more these days, than even 7-8 years ago. I didn't have a bad childhood, or anything like that, but I like now more than then.
I miss small stuff, but nothing that would make me go back.
Now living in alternate presents, you might have something there. I'm guilty of "What Iffing" for sure.
-Ed
I'm turning 33 on March 7th and I've already noticed that I'm starting to go back espeically with music and listen to stuff that I haven't listened to in years. I think that it's just a natural thing that happens to everyone eventually.
That's happening to me now, and I'm turning 24 in two days.
Quote from: HappyGilmore on February 26, 2008, 10:14:58 PM
That's happening to me now, and I'm turning 24 in two days.
Man, that's not good. You should still being living well in the "now" at 24. :teddyr:
I don't know if it's the same as living in the past in the way this topic has been discussed here, but I know I am someone who seems to place more value on analyzing my own past, even the recent past, than on enjoying the present as it is unfolding. That's probably not good.
A couple nights ago a friend of mine from Texas brought up how powerfully music brings back sentimental memories, and he was sure right there, because it does.
I mentioned to him how the 1980's, when we were children, were so much more innocent than this decade. That's not only the rosy effect of memory, I believe that. I think he and I were lucky we grew up then instead of now, and I'm finding myself shocked more and more often at some of the material marketed nowadays at the very young . But that's a sign I'm getting old (yuck) and also a subject for another topic someday.
But hey, if ever any of you get too far gone in your pining for our lost yesterdays, remember that old quote that we were all fools three years ago. (Heck, I know I was!)
Quote from: Torgo on February 26, 2008, 11:44:41 PM
Quote from: HappyGilmore on February 26, 2008, 10:14:58 PM
That's happening to me now, and I'm turning 24 in two days.
Man, that's not good. You should still being living well in the "now" at 24. :teddyr:
But everything today sucks. :buggedout:
But I have a job I (mostly) enjoy and, have made some friends there. Granted most of them are like, teenagers, but still.
I think ,more than the material and cultural things , is the FREEDOM.
To run....to climb trees, to travel and discover, to be....young!
To be able....on a whim-to just grab a 20 dollar bill,stick it in my shoe, and just start hich-hiking. No where in particular place to go.
I definitely look back fondly at a lot of my past. I miss my grandparents like crazy...think I always will. I miss staying overnight with cousins and friends that had cable and we would watch classic horror on TV late-night Friday nights and all afternoon on Saturday. I miss the days of waking up and nothing hurt.
But, overall, I'd say I'm happy with the majority of my past and look back fondly and I'm OK with the present.....
Quote from: Jack on February 24, 2008, 09:18:32 AM
I think at our age (mid 40's) it's common to have a bit of a midlife crisis. Especially when you're constantly reminded by the kids of how exciting and carefree life used to be. I know I sometimes ask myself "Is this all that I'll ever be? Twenty years from now virtually nothing will have changed?" But, I dunno. It's the same for everybody, it's just life, and I'm pretty happy actually. Sounds like you are too RC.
It's been suggested that once people are in their 40s they realize that the dreams of their youth are liable not to come true.
PEGGY LEE addressed this topic:
"Is That All There Is?" Sorry it's only a fragment, but youtube has become a dump these days for any old karaoke crapola...
DANDELION WINE... that's right!
DANDELION WINE! Who luvz ya baby? :thumbup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9kKf7SHco
There is the saying though that goes "Life truly begins at 40." I know plenty of people who have said that there's a lot of truth to that.
Quote from: Allhallowsday on February 27, 2008, 09:47:28 PM
It's been suggested that once people are in their 40s they realize that the dreams of their youth are liable not to come true.
Quote from: Torgo on February 27, 2008, 09:50:29 PM
There is the saying though that goes "Life truly begins at 40." I know plenty of people who have said that there's a lot of truth to that.
(Un)fortunately, both of these sentiments have grains of truth. I soon turn 44. I know that most of the things I wanted to be when I grew up will never happen. On the other hand, I still have many possibilities to explore, and I'm mature (read old) enough to do/get away with them. In some ways, I guess I'm having a midlife crisis. I do reminisce about college days (I hated high school and couldn't wait to get out), and I still feel very comfortable on a college campus. Inside, I say, "This is where I belong!" Then I look in a mirror and see that no, I don't belong there any longer, at least not as a student. On the positive side, I'm in the process of exploring options for new experiences/careers, and I'm still enjoying myself most days. I've worked hard to remain true to who I am. Even though that person is not particularly popular, I am happy with myself most of the time and glad that I never went along with the gang just to fit in. Overall, I guess I enjoy visiting the past, but I don't really think I want to live there anymore; there's too many other things to do.
Quote from: RCMerchant on February 23, 2008, 11:25:41 PM
Ok...this may sound a little weird...but I find myself living in the past a lot lately.
well...any way...does anybody else get as misty as me about the past?
Just came across this.....YES! To the point where I am in tears, also the feeling of being born at the wrong time. I have overwhelming love of all things 1980s and then of important parts of my childhood in the early to mid 90's. The thing is I can remember alot of things from a ridiculously early age, I miss my old house and the decor even though it was tacky (I have a pink living room), I miss my old cartoons, I miss old fashions and music. As I sit here and type this I have on a "1985 Right To Rock" Keel t-shirt, acid-wash jeans and some 1981 replay trainers, I'm surrounded by neon lights, some boglins, rubix cubes and box sets of Miami Vice. I have also just watched the 1995 Royal Rumble and am now listening to Renee & Angela's 1985 hit "I'll be good"....the effect is at the least tear inducing with a strong sense of longing.
I have had a serious bout with living in the past, or perhaps escaping the present to a happier time.
It seems as though I have been not only reflecting on things in the past, but trying to collect things that remind me of it.
I have a small keepbox that I started, well, kind of for therapeutic reasons. As I have had the opportunity to go through some of my stuff that I have been able to hang onto (small things), I have put them in the keepbox, or even found replacements for some items I have lost over the years but at least have a representative of it. I can go through the keepbox and it's kind of a memory repository.
The 70s are a particular draw for me. I love the music, particularly from the early 70s, the movies, and pretty much most everything else as it brings back memories of a time when there was a feeling of open freedom, and even carelessness.
Some of my hobbies are throwbacks to that time. I still collect pyramids and most things to do with pyramid energy (if anyone has a connector set for a meditation pyramid and would be willing to part with it, let me know). I have a fondness for muscle cars from the early 70s. Give me a radio station with Jim Croce, Harry Chapin, and Carly Simon and I'll be dreaming all day. I started my interest in multi-band radios, shortwave radios and CB radio in the 70s and still collect radios and CB related items.
Of mistakes in the past, I've made a few....
...oh hell...I've made a hell of a lot.
Other than one massive mistake a few years ago, I wouldn't go back and change them. My mistakes have been my learning. Through the years, we all learn things about others, and especially that others are just like us...real people and not just objects that inhabit the places we work and play. Understanding and compassion comes with the experiences of life and having a greater compassion for others is not something I would trade to make something in my past right.
I have done a lot of learning over the years, and have a lot more learning to do; hopefully with fewer presumptuous mistakes than what it has taken to get here.
I have lost damn near everything I had and started over from a borrowed and cold floor. What I didn't lose was myself.
Many of us will reflect on precious times. Even without memorabilia, we have the memories to keep us company. Most of those reflections will be things we enjoyed, but some will be regrets. Ultimately, though, regrets or not, are we better today for them?
Yeah, I kind of went off course on a mini-tangent which obviously had no intended destination in the first place.
So? Anybody surprised? :tongueout:
I'm 34 years old. Not too far behind the 40 somethings here.
I hear music and watch movies that came out when I was younger and I do reminisce.
But I also feel that the years I'm living right now will create memories that I'll cherish when I'm in my 40's and on up.
I see it from a different perspective than a lot of you do because I've never been married and have no children.
My life now is pretty much the same as it was when I was in my early 20's.
The bachelor's life.
Not marrying and not having kids has enabled me to live my life very much like I did in the past.
The only difference is that I'm now a more responsible and honorable person than I was back then. There are things that I would say and do back then that I would never do now.
So yes, I do look back at the past with fondness. But I'm also living it at the same time. And loving it.
Ya dig? :smile:
Quote from: RCMerchant on February 23, 2008, 11:25:41 PM
Ok...this may sound a little weird...but I find myself living in the past a lot lately.
I'm not real old...(I'm 45) but I live in the past. Alot. I have a sweetie whom I love,two kids, a big old farmhouse of my own (well-I'm paying on it...)...but I seem to be on a big time nostalgia thing....;I miss the past.
I was watching my son Jed running down the street to his friend Donny's house this afternoon to play...and thought-"Man...to run like that again...to be free and uncarung about politics, the past or the future...just to run...to be so ...I dunno ... alive...
cripes...I sound like a Ray Bradbury excerpt from 'Dandolion Wine'....
well...any way...does anybody else get as misty as me about the past?
I'm with you there, RC.
Although my childhood was spent during a war (1967 ~ 1980) I remember growing up in what was then Rhodesia with a lot of fondness. The only bad thing I remember is saying goodbye to my Dad when he went off to Lord knows where to fight terrorists and I didn't know if I would see him again.
The good thing about having memories of a good past is that you can visit those memories whenever you want and yes, I do get a bit misty-eyed from time to time.
Quote from: Menard on September 12, 2008, 09:52:57 PM
I have lost damn near everything I had and started over from a borrowed and cold floor. What I didn't lose was myself.
I'm glad that you didn't lose yourself, Dr M: I would have lost someone special then. :smile:
Quote from: Ash on September 12, 2008, 10:30:19 PM
So yes, I do look back at the past with fondness. But I'm also living it at the same time. And loving it.
Ya dig? :smile:
I dig it, my friend. :smile: