Reminiscing

I took this picture several years ago. Notice the chunk out of it's wing, yet it still flew away.

Someone may wonder about how my "Going Fangirl" post helps with getting older? Beats me! I mean, this blog is just the ramblings from a "mature woman".

Although... I have noticed my thoughts turning backwards more than it did when I was younger. I even gave it a Google and now I have "Reminiscing" by the Little River Band stuck in my head. Granted, it's a good song and does kinda fit this subject.

It's perfectly fine to think of the past. It's your choices of thoughts that matters. To throw yourself a pity-party and roll around in bitter thought-mud doesn't help unless it also includes remembering how you handled it to have a positive outcome. Not just "I survived" but steps you took then that can help you improve your now. If all you're doing is wallowing in the muck then please try to stop the self torture. It can effect your mental and physical health in the now. I found out anger can increase inflammation, which is associated with illnesses like heart disease, arthritis and cancer, though mostly in those 80 and older. That's from The American Psychological Association.

On the flip side, stop with the "my childhood was perfect because I drank out of a hose and you younger hooligans suck" posts and attitude! What was perfect was not having bills to worry about because you were a KID, having a young body that didn't creak, pop, and hurt all the time, and not having to fix your own and everyone elses meals (which is a personal gripe of mine. My son will roll his eyes when I go off on a rant of how when I was in my twenties I'd eat a can of green beans for dinner and it wasn't necessary to cook full blown meals and WHY DO Y'ALL NEED TO EAT EVERY DAY! Go graze in the kitchen your own damn self! Honestly he's good at that... Oops  Off topic.) But do you honestly think your parents saw your "good ole' days" as their good ole' days? Of course not! 

Thinking back on happy memories, I feel and science agrees, can naturally boost Dopamine and Serotonin. Just don't mentally move there. Like a TV show you return to the present afterwards.

You know how they say your life flashes before your eyes before you die? Isn't this similar? I mean the death part is decades away knock-on-wood, but we begin to ask ourselves "did my life matter in the big scheme of things? Did I make a difference in other's lives? Was I a good person?" Just because we didn't cure cancer doesn't mean our existence wasn't important. 

What did I learn?

I had just enough in my Amazon gift card balance to get Little River Band's Greatest Hits! Yeah!

But seriously, I can check a lot of these boxes of what not to do. I've "won" arguments with a brilliant comeback against someone who's been dead for a decade or more. There are times when anger is needed. Like letting someone irl know you're angry instead of holding it in, or if that anger leads to activism, but to look backwards and be angry at things you can't change can be harmful. One of the good things that has come from the Pandemic is that you can seek help right on your phone. I'm not going to recommend any specific place, but there is NOTHING WRONG with saying "I need help", okay? Okay!