The reason people find it so hard to be happy is that they always see the past better than it was, the present worse than it is, and the future less resolved than it will be. -- Marcel Pagnol (French Dramatist) I'm sure that everyone in their recent past would have listened once to their father's story about his childhood and how they struggled but still was far better enjoyable than it is now. I for one never cared about those stories and it was a repeated storyline for me. Cut to the present day and I am almost doing the same to my kids. I have started telling them stories of how I used to play till 8PM on the streets and not watch TV. It was great with only the Black & White DD channel for TV. The wait for seeing cartoons on Sunday, Malgudi days or ஒலியும் ஒளியும் (Oliyum Oliyum) and how friends used to talk for hours face-to-face. I still feel that how TV and entertainment were destroyed by the 24/7 satellite channels, Now I see my kids doing what I did to my father's story. I can see now where the dissent and disinterest come to them. There is no connection for them to what I am saying or experiencing. It's nostalgic for me but for those who have not even seen it how can I expect them to feel it? What's that got to do with the topic - Just hang on for a short while. Being bored, I decided to open up FB after a long time and I saw countless posts on the dangers of social media and why we should go back to times before WWW was found. I find a strange contradiction that those people who are shouting against it or in fact using the same channel to propagate it. Much like the advisory warning on the cigarette packet. This made me think for some time if it is really true that as one goes old, they seem to feel that their childhood times look far better than the present? A likely answer to it would be that during childhood there is no responsibility and hence the time looked great. Come beyond childhood to job, managers, marriage, housing loans, EMI, etc then the same period looks crazy. This is what I think maybe a plausible reason. A couple of days back, when flipping on channels on the TV I stumbled upon an old movie of Woody Allen named "The midnight in Paris". This movie is the one which is credited for coining the concept called "Golden Age Syndrome" So what is it?
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The good old days, when each idea had an owner, are gone forever - Paulo Coelho I am growing old - this is not a sudden revelation nor is it rocket science to find it. Time is a linear element and hence physically we grow. I'm talking about mental ageing. A few months back is when I got into this mode when both my kids used to say "Iyyooo Appa, stop this during my younger days stories" It was these words which made me stop and think - have I grown older really. I always felt that I was much younger in mental age compared to my physical counterpart - not in terms of development but in terms of enjoying life. There has been a sudden change which has occurred that has triggered me now to think back on those olden days. Am I missing it? Am I satiated with latest technology? Am I really old now and just got to accept it? Well these thoughts surround me a lot now-a-days and I am still figuring out the answer. In the process of figuring the answer I went back in time and found a lot of enjoyment. In this joyous space is where I am composing this blog - I want all to enjoy or go back in time to relish those golden moments. Many of us would have experienced this or still experiencing this but I want to find out really which is better. So what would change if I knew the answer - I don't know but I want to let my curiosity to run till it looses energy. In that unrestricted journey back in time I found the following: 1. Time was lot SLOWER in the 80s 2. The WANTS were LESS and CONTENDED were MORE 3. Entertainment was PURE and GENUINE 4. Need for SPEED was not the first priority while STEADINESS was. 5. The only ABUNDANCE was home work, all others were SCARCE So let me try to lay down what was available back then and try to arrive at the answer if possible. |
AuthorVasudevan is a Leadership Mentor and an Executive coach. I run an online website geared towards helping creative entrepreneurs and future managers to build their dreams. Archives
June 2023
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