FORGOTTEN GENRES

Admiring your past is one thing, to become beholden to it is another. You can lose yourself dwelling on missed opportunities. Investor and entrepreneur Naval Ravikant once said, “Suffering leads to success by way of agency.” Personally, I work best when I have a little hate in the tank. Not the kind of hate that makes you pace around your apartment in a manic frenzy and play out old arguments in your head. What I’m referring to is the kind of hate that just perfectly tops you off, that allows you to repurpose your frustrations into fuel.

There is no greater motivator than reflecting on the past. Like a reliable tide, memories come rushing back; the highs and the lows. Each one brings with it a particular flavor, sound, or visual that acts as a shadow to the moment it was created. The sugary, bland taste of a gumball eye from a Spider-Man ice cream pop might be your Year 2000. The look of Sonic the Hedgehog racing across the screen of your old living room CRT television may be 1994. The sound of laughter reverberating through the halls of the now-condemned-due-to-asbestos local high school could be 2006. Your life is defined in senses.

For the individual, if taking initiative comes natural, it doesn’t always have to end at reminiscing. Nostalgia can be a formidable tool to propel yourself forward. It can push you to create—or perhaps recreate—memories for the now and beyond. These senses do not have to be unique to their time.