There is, of course, no easy answer to a question like this one.

To me, the recent frequent waves of nostalgia made me ask myself, what it means to keep thinking about something happened in the past, regarding to what I’m experiencing right now.

We all think about the past. Often or not. But we do. Dwelling on the past indicates the length of time and brain cells you spend on thinking about it. Something remains clear, some becomes vague. But you keep thinking about them, true or made-up. About their meanings, their possibilities, their indications, their aftermaths…

I, for example, wish I could go back and talk some sense into the 17 year-old me, and the 21 year-old me, and the 23 year-old me.

Yeah, I didn’t have regrets when I was in college. That ended drastically later in life.

What am I doing? Why do I keep thinking about the past when I have a supposedly fully packed present life?

If the past is gone, the future hasn’t come, there’s only one “real” me — the present one.

So in fact, the “past” playing in my head would only have meaning because it’s related to and have influence on what is happening to the “real” me. Same goes to the imagination of the possible future scenarios often takes up my brain space.

If there’s anything that needs to be deciphered, it’s not the vague (possibly false) memories, but the action of remembering and reminiscence. Isn’t that why people write their own versions of history, no matter which one gets to be picked to be the official one?

It’s about now. Maybe also about the imagined future. But mostly, it’s about here and now.