Everything Old Is New Again
Mom jeans. Tie dye. Scrunchies. Champion clothing. Babysitters Club. Space Jam.
I am here for it.
I’m not sure if basking in waves of nostalgia is a symptom of my mental illness or just something else entirely…but make no mistake - I am always up for a throwback, a reboot, some vintage piece of clothing, a family heirloom, or an old home video. All those things delight me to no end. In the past four years, I have attended not one but two New Kids on the Block concerts. Need I say more?
I do think part of the draw can be comfort. I have read on more than one occasion that many anxious people enjoy watching the same television shows or movies over and over again. It’s predictable. It’s soothing. I get it.
I also think that there is something exciting about rediscovering something from a new perspective - like from the point of view of a parent, for example. Or even just as an older and (maybe) wiser individual.
This afternoon, while my daughter napped, I sat down to try to write something new, but to no avail. My well of inspiration was bone dry, and every attempt at cultivating unique content was futile. I decided to visit the archives. The Google Drive archives, that is. Home to hundreds of pages of my edited and unedited thoughts. I took a trip down memory lane and started reading blog posts from You Have to Laugh About It and Laugh With Ari. Some of you faithful readers may remember both of those. What I discovered was actually really interesting. There are some sentiments that I cannot even remember feeling, let alone writing about. Others seem more true today than they were then. One post in particular, though, stopped me in my tracks. It was so vague and wishy-washy, I had to look up what current events were taking place at the time to see what the heck I was talking about. The post was from August 21, 2017. A simple Google search reminded me that on August 12th, a “Unite the Right” rally was held in Charlottesville, VA to protest the removal of confederate statue. When counter-protesters showed up, someone from the former group drove his car through the crowd killing one woman and injuring several other people. President Trump addressed the incident saying “both sides share blame” for the violent event. I did not mention with any specificity the protest, the reason for the protest, the violence, or President Trump. I did not use the phrases white supremacy or white supremacists. I talk about hate and racism and standing up for what is right even when it’s difficult - and I also make it clear that I’m not trying to be political or push an agenda.
MY HOW THINGS HAVE CHANGED! Um let’s just start with yes I damn well do have an agenda! It’s dismantling white supremacy, abolishing all the systems that white supremacy currently has its disgusting talons in, and rebuilding in a radical and progressive way.
Sadly, everything old is new again…or maybe some things never change. Racism, hate, bigotry, white supremacy, and violence still seem to fester in this country in both old and new ways. It felt unsettling reading the aforementioned old blog post that was so tepid and timid, and sounded really nothing like who I am today. In that sense, I am not nostalgic at all.
I am happy to leave my penchant for people pleasing and neutrality in the past, along with jelly shoes, snap bracelets, and the boyband LFO.
And while my depressive/anxious spells sometimes have me craving the comfort of nostalgia, my obsessive/anxious energy keeps me plotting for a better future. Onward and upward, friends. There are so many reasons to keep moving onward and upward.