Do You Ever Miss Certain Periods In Your Life?

Does nostalgia ever kick you in the gut? 😩

I wish there was a way to know you were in the good old days before you’ve actually left them.

A character in one of my favourite shows looked wistfully into the camera and uttered these words, and they stuck with me.

I think there’s a lot of conversation around missing people and not enough around missing certain periods in your life. 

You hear a tune and you’re immediately transported to a different time in your life when things seemed so uncomplicated and uncluttered. Or you find a bottle of perfume sitting at the back of your drawer and as soon as you spray it on, you’re conveyed to a time when you were younger, and your problems seemed insurmountable.

What pulled me deep into my own ocean of nostalgia was an unrestrained laughter. 

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I like to bring a mat to my balcony in the evenings, when the afternoon sun has dipped beneath the clouds, the sky is beautiful burst of colours, and the wind gently slaps against your skin. I like to sit, cross legged, with my laptop on my thighs, and write. Or read a short story.

But this evening, I am simply frustrated. 

Staring at the bank app on my phone, I notice my finances are not financing. Where did all my money go? Who spent my money? Who used 6k to buy food yesterday? For how long am I going to continue like this? Why did Bolt take 7k out of my account just now? Is it spirit that entered Bolt?

All these questions were swirling when I heard a laugh pierce through my thoughts.

I cannot say if it was the mixture of the cool air, the laugh and the onions my neighbour was frying, but I immediately found myself in a time where I was laughing unabashedly in the middle of the road. 

I was with the girl that lived opposite my dorm, it was late and we had decided to eat out that day, instead of cooking in the general kitchen we shared with our floor-mates.

I had initially refused to come out because I needed to complete an assignment that could potentially boost my grades but she convinced me to come. 

We got a döner from the city centre and ate it while walking back to the bus station. In the middle of complaining about the food, we realised that we had missed the last bus. So, we decided to walk home. 

Bad idea. We should have called a taxi but at the time, I lived in an expensive city and I definitely didn’t want to know how much it would cost to call a cab so, we walked.

It was freezing cold and my shoes were too tight. We huddled up and joked all the way home. When I got back, I felt better so, I went to finish my assignment. I submitted it and I failed. Lmaooo. 

When I saw the result, I cried hot tears.

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Sitting on my balcony today, I’m laughing at myself but wishing I realised how uncomplicated life was. It hit me almost immediately that one day, I might have bigger problems (than how not to starve to death before 2023) and wish I was back on this balcony, living a simpler life.

The point of this letter is to let you know that you are currently living in the good old days. There will be better days but you’re still going to miss these days.

Your baby might be calling your name for the 567th time today but one day, she/he will not be little anymore. You’re single now but someday, you might start to consider building a life with a random stranger you met on a cloudy Tuesday afternoon. You’re currently worrying about a few thousands (like my 7k) but in the future, you might have to worry about how to secure hefty investments so, savour these seemingly daunting issues now.

Savour. Your. Life. I cannot stress this enough.

Slow down, close your eyes, and taste it. Romanticise your current state and remind yourself that you’re living in the good days. 

Yes, I live in Nigeria and I know that it can be the ghetto. However, these problems that make living in this country so unbearable right now, could be the same scenarios you speak of, as you tell your grandkids of simpler times. 

Savour it. 

NB. Oh and I booked Bolt for my mum. I forgot.

NB. Should I start doing Bolt? 😭