Nostalgia

Nostalgia is something easy to become gripped by. Longing, yearning and holding on to what was. I, myself, get caught into a nostalgic gopher hole occasionally. I’m not trying to paint it as a bad thing. But, in abundance, to what end is nostalgia helpful in the present?

The risk with indulging in nostalgia is a lack of gratitude for the now. It can cause a side effect of jadedness. We’ve all seen jadedness…it makes things complicated for all.

A year ago, I posted this as I changed jobs: “The future is always unknown. However, I embrace the opportunity for change. After all, isn’t change the only thing that doesn’t change? Change is constant. Adapt - now that’s the antidote to change.” Golly, did those words reign true this year…

I want to focus on gratitude. Gratitude for the past, gratitude for the now, and gratitude for the potential of what’s to come. Yearning for the way things were isn’t going to solve your problems now, so why not embrace the potential for renewed “good old days” being formed at this very moment? Acknowledge your blessings.

I feel gratitude to be able to embrace my creative muscle. I included some highlight pics from the year of moments that made it FUN. That gratitude, I feel, has paid dividends in the work. It’s helped build synergies with my colleagues. It helped us reach great metrics on social and set a high bar. Might things hypothetically get rough in the future? Sure. Maybe a creative drought could happen? Sure. But that won’t stop me and I’m open to what’s next.

If you made it this far - look in your mind’s eye and ponder today - do you feel gratitude? If not, what’s stopping you? The dark side of social media tells you that you need to be angry and bitter and critical. About EVERYTHING. That’s a fallacy. Lastly, what would be the ideal state in order to be able to demonstrate creativity in your job? If you’re not there yet, how do you get there?

“All that matters is that you are making something you love, to the best of your ability, here and now.” -Rick Rubin