Remember that time when you were on the playground at your elementary school playing Four Square or Tetherball? When your biggest stress was getting knocked out of the top square during that harmless rubber ball game at recess? What about the time that you ran just for the fun of it, or played make believe or hide and seek? All those things seem like they were a million years ago. At the time, you didn’t realize what a blessing it was to be able to just enjoy life and do the simple things—to act like a child when it was your turn to act like one.
Remember when you woke up before school to watch morning cartoons, you know, the cartoons that you now see in those "90s kids will only understand" posts? Now you only have time for the occasional episode of "Grey’s Anatomy" or "Friends." Remember when you refused to take naps because you weren’t tired? Now you only wish that you could take naps because you’re tired 90 percent of the time. Remember when smartphones weren’t attached to your hand 100 percent of the time? Or when you actually called someone to talk to them instead of sending a meaningless text? Do you remember that thing called dial-up Internet? Now, we have all these things that have taken away those simple things, that are making the kids of today grow up so much faster than we ever did.
Before you know it, that little kid that you once were is now a high school student. You were told once that high school was going to be the best four years of your life (you found out later that this was completely and utterly untrue). High school was filled with stresses of its own, with football games and homecoming dances and proms. High school was fun—but then you graduate in the blink of an eye and you’re forced to grow up even more, making the innocence of your childhood years creep farther and farther away. High school helped you find part of who you were. It developed characteristics, and showed you what your strengths and weaknesses were. But you can’t help but think about the times when you didn’t have to worry about those things. You could just have fun, and be yourself the way you were in that moment. You didn’t have to worry about college applications or grades.
Since you were that little kid, you had thought about college. Would you live to see the day where you were living on your own without your parents? Would you see the day where someone wasn’t telling you to clean your room or do chores? Would you see the day when you were living in a different city (maybe even state) than those who you’ve known for the past 18 years? It was unthinkable, unbelievable. But here you were, embarking on a path you had never been on—only you didn’t have your parents to hold your hands as you walked down it. College came with stresses you had never experienced. It came with professors that weren’t at all like your high school teachers. You had to learn a whole new way of life, but you’re doing it.
Life was so much easier at those early ages. Those ages where you could just lay in mom and dads arms and everything in the world was made better in an instant. While these might have been some of the best times of our lives—the ‘Remember When?’ moments—we have to continuously move forward. Look forward. No matter how badly life is working out, or how hard college is, there will still be simple things in the present and not only in the past.
