I am a sucker for nostalgia. If you can relate even a little, you know the feeling… the urge to scroll through old Snap memories before bed or reread all your Notes app entries. Nostalgia has this funny way of reminding us of who we used to be, who we are now, and how much life we’ve lived in between. It’s a blur of moments that shape us, usually without us even realizing it at the time.
A couple of weeks ago, I was rereading old entries from my online journal when I stumbled across a list I had written at the end of 2023. The days leading up to this entry, I kept writing about how different I felt compared to the version of me who started the year. I’d done a lot, learned a lot, and grown in ways I hadn’t processed yet. All of these scrambled thoughts led me to my last entry of 2023, a simple numbered list from one to forty-three, outlining everything that had happened that year.
The list had everything from getting tattoos, going to my first concert, to spontaneous weekend trips. All the fun, bright experiences I forgot had happened. It also had the moments I struggled, the setbacks that knocked me down and the days that felt heavy. It was all the big things, small things, great things, and not-so-great things. It wasn’t a highlight reel, it was the whole reel.
When I wrote it in the moment, I remember feeling relieved. Seeing everything laid out reminded me that my year was full of so much life. Looking back now, I feel proud too. There’s something very comforting in seeing your life all in one place like that. It shows you that your story isn’t just the extremes, not just your best or worst days, but the mix of everything in between.
Making that list became a grounding practice for me. Not just an yearly exercise, but something I’d do on a random Thursday when I realized that I just needed to put things into perspective. It helped me stop obsessing over the bad days and stop minimizing the good ones. More than that, it showed me how quickly the small moments fade, how far I’ve come even when day-to-day life feels repetitive and slow, and reminds me to be grateful for having moments to look back on.
As a wise man once said, “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” Ferris Bueller said it best, and this list practice has become my own way of actually stopping and looking around once in a while. So, here’s to pausing and revisiting the moments that shaped you, whatever they were.