“Carpe Diem” Kingston’s Journal #43

There’s a common human tendency to look at the past in a more favorable light. Take the Great Depression in the 1930’s or example, of all the industries that were failing in the era, one of the few that saw an uptick was the movie industry. People clamored to movie theaters to escape their own bleak realities in favor of glorifying a fictional portrayal of a past era.

That was then, right now in pop culture (social media specifically) popular hashtags include Throwback Thursday & Flashback Friday. Its the same concept. Especially with pictures. Pictures are normally there to highlight key moments in life & these snapshots in time tend to be happy times. “I traveled to _____”, “Family reunion with _____” or “I accomplished _____.”

By that token, there is a natural tendency to remember only the good & when times get tough, the past looks so much better as a pretty collage has already been painted while the ups and downs of the present look fearless appealing. Therefore people tend to romance the past and demonize the present.

And the future well, people tend to respond more to pain then a proportional amount of pleasure. And the worst case scenario people dream up paralyze decision making. Its far easier for us to sit around flipping through pictures then getting off our butts and making things happen. Because that’s the thing, good memories are only made if we take the initiative and seize opportunities.

Carpe Diem

Kingston S. Lim

April 15, 2020

San Francisco, CA

Published

Originally published at https://kingstonlim.com on April 16, 2020.