Do You Know Why Things Were Better Before?

So, just for clarity, things were better before—weren’t they?

Well, maybe. Better than what? And before when? We should at least start with those two questions.

Here’s the thing. No matter what changes, no matter how wonderful the new version may be, we humans automatically think, Why did they have to mess with the old thing? It was clearly better the way it was before. Clearly.

If you’re in a world that changes constantly (which you are, like it or not), it stands to reason that you be change-ready at all times, because change happens, at the drop of a hat.”

—@gapingvoid

That advice from @gapingvoid sounds good. I’m going to say it’s a high bar set for an impossible aspiration. We humans aren’t very good at constant readiness no matter the call—especially when it’s something we don’t like much, such as change.

Change happens. I still think it was better the old way.

Let’s talk a bit about the relationship between the changes we experience and our fixation on how things were before.

Change is painful for almost everyone. In fact, I could remove the word almost without provoking an argument. We are pretty much in agreement on that point, right? Change takes work. It stretches our mental and emotional fortitude, even when it’s something we want.

Even the newest, latest iPhone takes some getting-used-to.

And we love our iPhones.

Life calls us to endure never-ending cycles of change. We are forced to navigate unexpected challenges nearly every day. Yet few of us ever get comfortable with them.

Think about this for a minute, change may be one of the few experiences in this life that we get to practice nearly every day from birth to death without ever learning to master it. Hmmm. Ponder that one, Obi-Wan.

But why do we think things were better in the past?

This worldview is based on the negative assumption that the world has somehow gotten worse and is usually connected to the romantic notion that we should somehow return to a better time.”

—Kelly Odell on Warp News

Okay, okay, maybe some things actually were better. Although true, I believe we both know those are outliers—at least for this discussion.

The simplest explanation is everything “back then” was familiar and comfortable. The truth is—not everything was, it’s just that’s how we let ourselves remember them. We tend to favor the pleasant memories and quell the bad ones. The good memories take center stage.

Another reason is that we knew what we were doing. We had mastered our daily routines, methods, and approaches to living. We don’t even remember they too were once cumbersome and unfamiliar.

Plus, we tend to dwell on the loss of something rather than embracing the ultimate gain, especially when the loss is comfort. Humans have become soft, squishy comfort-seekers. If you’ve developed a well-established exercise routine, you may seek the burn and feel the pain for thirty minutes or so maybe once a day. Then it’s back to our comfort-seeking. 

How do you see it?  Am I wrong?

Why do we insist things were better before? The answer is painfully simple…

Comfort and familiarity. 

That’s it. We love that feeling of comfort and familiarity, so naturally we protect it at all costs. At the expense of what, though? Your next career? A new identity? Catching your wild rabbit? Satisfying that lifelong dream?

What will tomorrow bring? Who knows? It could be the opportunity you’ve been waiting for.

Be ready… because change happens. Embrace it. You’ll be better off for it.

Be untucked.

p.s. Know someone who might like this post? Maybe forward it or share it on your favorite social media platform. Thanks!

p.p.s. No artificial intelligence algorithms were used in the production of this post. 

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