When times were simpler…

What does that mean, exactly?

I recall one of my very first lectures. It was 1997 and my nostalgia is most likely amplified by the fact that, coming from a smaller town, being in a room with hundreds of fellow students in the one class was exciting to say the least.

However, the message of the lecture made a lasting impression.

The lecturer began with quotes, one on each slide.

They varied in content, but each had a similar theme in that they were lamenting various issues of the youth of their time.

In his reveal at the end of the slideshow, the lecturer showed that these quotes weren’t in fact modern…that they were dated back to the time of Plato and continued throughout history to the present day.

This theme seems to be increasingly common now, particularly on social media, where many posts begin with “in simpler times” or something to that effect.

What does this mean? What, exactly are simpler times? Were simpler times when children could walk the street after dark and play with the kids across the road…ON the road? Were simpler times when pikelets cost 2c (this is a personal gripe I experienced when, at an athletics carnival, I was rudely shocked by the 10c I had to pay for one pikelet…it was, dear reader, quite a shock and one for which I was not prepared and, alas, I went back to the bleachers sans pikelet).

Or perhaps simpler times were when people didn’t have to beg for food on the streets? Maybe simpler times for people in other countries equates to not having to live in a dump, recycling materials for money?

Was the use of direct, plain speech without an over abundance of political correctness indicative of simpler times? How about pre 5G, 4G, 3G…pre Apple’s yearly iPhone release…or when you could talk to a human located within your country on every hotline or customer helpline (I’m not complaining; I love online chat for customer service and the fewer actual humans with which I have to discuss my tech issues, the better).

What IS simple? Several days ago, the thought of playing Minecraft made me freeze into some kind of organic stationary mass, where the brain just didn’t ‘get’ what it was all about. It took my 5 year old daughter to teach me and in the space of a few hours, I can honestly say Minecraft is simple.

Isn’t ‘simple’ a relative term? One that, rather than being used to heighten a nostalgic and potential sense of victimisation or ‘poor me-ism’, could be used to describe something that ‘presents no difficulty’ or something that ‘presents with no ornamentation’ (thanks Google).

However, even difficulty and ornamentation are relative. What I find difficult (Minecraft pre-5yo tutelage) may seem simple to others (the 5yo).

How are the rich and famous coping with quarantine? Is their life simple? How about the poor and homeless? What has changed for them? Is life simpler now than it was before?

My point is, yes there are some people who are well and truly affected by adversity, and even then many of them resist or do not require the need to lament anything. If people in Plato’s time were lamenting the youth of the day, it may be indicative that nostalgia and lamentation is part of the human condition. But does it help or hinder? And can we change our condition? Of course we can, and perhaps the argument is that we must.

To be clear, nostalgia, lamenting and adopting a victim attitude is not mutually exclusive with being a realist. You can be both realistic and grounded in your approach and communication.

What the world’s current situation needs is not to reign in others, encouraging them to jump in on a rosy ‘pre-covid’ mindset. That type of thinking takes away precious energy from creative and powerful mindsets. That type of thinking is rooted in the past and that is where it gets its power from.

I remember the days when…

Kids these days…

The world’s gone to the dogs!

Abstaining from these phrases in thought and conversation is like tending to the weeds in the garden of your mind. It is part of a healthy mental mindset.

So the next time we hear or see something akin to “when times were simpler”, the appropriate response might be, “what do mean exactly”? This applies to our own thoughts as well. Challenge yourself…what exactly do YOU mean?

For my part, the simplicity of my life is my responsibility. Yes, the circumstances change, and to be human and live in this world is to own an existence synonymous with change. Some changes happen without my consent or my control, and some are of my own doing. Regardless, they are all changes, and it is better for my mindset and my powerful presence to acknowledge them and move on. To me, a simple life is the overlay through which I live my life. Things are simple when you are like a tree and bend, when you are like water around a rock. The circumstances remain exactly the same. It is how we view them that dictates how they affect us.

The more we are able to tend to our own mental health, the more we can help both ourselves and others, and this is and always will be an important aspect of what it means to be human.