My dad told me this story about when he and my mom were dating. They went to Salem, Massachusetts for a week; while they were there, they found the experience to be mediocre—“nothing to write home about,” as my dad would put it. Now, however, when they look back on that week, it is one of their fondest memories. They remember the really good parts of the vacation and would give anything to relive it. He calls it “The Salem Effect.”
Many experiences in our lives are similar to this one—take high school, for example. While we were in school, homework was a bummer. Some teachers were really awful. Especially being a girl, a lot of my classmates were very catty and thrived off of gossip. It felt as though those were the longest four years of my life…and the most fun. I’m not necessarily saying I would jump at the opportunity to pull a 21 Jump Street and go back, but when I do reminisce, it’s always on the good times. It’s the mall trips freshman year trying to figure out whose mom would drop-off and whose mom would pick up. We hung around for hours and sometimes didn’t even buy anything. I remember getting kicked out of a Walgreen’s for spraying too much Axe cologne for absolutely no reason. The pep rallies are prevalent in my mind, as well as the 8 AM softball/basketball practices. There was one week in particular where every single person in my friend group went through a break-up at the exact same time; we had a girls’ nights. We had pool parties. We played with the Photo Booth effects on the computer and were on oovoo from 11:00 PM until 6:00 AM the next morning. It seemed at the time like high school was so hard and that it dragged on and on. I only wish I could have appreciated the good times more than I did.
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I think this is an important lesson in life. As I am now making my way through college, it is hard. It seems like all I ever do is study and do homework. I trek across campus at 8:00 AM, trek back around 2:00 PM, head to work until 5:00 PM, come back and eat dinner, and then begin my homework. I honestly can’t wait for it to be over. I can’t wait to get my life started…until I think of “The Salem Effect.” When I think of it, I try to pay more attention to the good times: to discovering a crepe place and waiting outside until it opened, to trying every possible drink on the Starbucks menu, to spontaneous mall/shopping trips, to always making new friends…it makes me sad that it can’t last forever. Sooner than I would like to, I will be obligated to pay rent on an apartment, start to repay my student loans, buy all my own food (without my fabulous meal plan), and be a real adult. But it’s not that time yet.
Right now, it’s time to focus on the good things and good people in life. Neither one will last forever. Appreciate the friends you have now because it might not last as long as you would like it to. Appreciate whatever you’re going through in life, because even if you feel it’s super difficult or super boring, you will look back and miss the good parts. What you’re going through now won’t last forever, which can be a good or a bad thing. The memories that you’re making at this very moment can only ever be remembered, not recreated. Make the most of every moment and appreciate the present. You’ll never quite have it the same again.
