CROW’S FEET WRITING PROMPT #93-Past, Present, and Future

Are You Avoiding the Future When You Focus on the Past?

Or maybe nostalgia is a salve

Photo by Simon Schwyter on Unsplash

In the five-plus years I’ve been writing on Medium, the large majority of my articles have looked back in one way or another.

More often than not, my writing has focused on events, brands, television shows, movies and music of the 1960s, when I was attending high school and college. Crow’s Feet Prompt #93 made me stop and think about that.

It’s not the first time I’ve asked myself if focusing on the past is just a way to avoid the future. But I don’t think so, and here’s why.

In my view, thinking and writing about the past is healthy because you can look back with a more mature, wiser sense of perspective that only comes with age. It’s really about seeing your past life through a contemporary lens. You can mentally recreate the past in a way that perhaps rounds off the rough edges, so what was once painful then seems less so now.

I admit I can get caught up in a web of memories, particularly when it comes to music of the 1960s, but reminiscing about that turbulent time — in my life, the country and the world — is in the long run positive. Why? Because knowing I survived those crazy…