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Date: 12/27/2021
What a year. Or – perhaps I should say – what a few years.
It seems that with each passing year life only moves faster. When I share that I’m having this feeling with anyone who is older than me, without fail, each person reminds me that “it only gets worse.”
This holiday season has passed by much faster than former years for me. Perhaps you, dear reader, feel the same. Maybe it’s the fact that we’re all aging and with each year there’s more expected of us for the holidays insofar as more people to buy gifts for, more places to go. Maybe it’s that many of us have demanding, busy jobs to keep up with that have possibly only grown more hectic since the pandemic, taking our focuses away from home-life.
This feeling may be a result of pandemic fatigue to some extent. Last year many of us didn’t celebrate as we normally did. This year, I’ve found in conversation that most people I know are planning to celebrate how they would have in pre-pandemic times – or at least close to it – which often involves a lot of holiday hoopla. In turn, this cranks up the pressure to host or to be hosted, to buy copious amounts of presents, to divide up what little precious free time we have.
Simply put – maybe we’re all experiencing different versions of being burnt out.
I’ve found myself lacking connection with people lately. I feel like I’ve been pulled in so many directions this holiday season that I haven’t had much time to slow down and actually enjoy people’s company.
Over this past weekend I spent several hours at my grandparents’ house scanning hundreds of old photos from 30, 40, 50 years ago. I told my grandparents that I was doing this to digitize family photos … a small white lie in the name of Christmas spirit, as my parents purchased them a Skylight digital photo frame for the holiday. Essentially, this is a large digital photo frame that has an assigned email address, where anyone who has that email address (and is approved by the frame owner) can email photos directly to the frame from wherever they are. For instance, I could take a photo of myself writing this article at work and email it to the frame, and within a few moments the photo would pop up on it.
I spent a good deal of time dusting off photo albums that haven’t been touched in countless years. I went through pictures of my parents’ wedding, which took place 33 ½ years ago, pictures of my grandfather’s 50th birthday, which was 29 ½ years ago, pictures of when my parents remodeled our family home 32 years ago. I saw myriad photos that my grandma or grandpa took of my brother Alec and me when we were babies and toddlers – one I loved, where I was driving my Barbie convertible with my no more than 1-year-old brother as my passenger. The look on his face was of sheer panic that someone would allow me – his barely four-year-old sister – to put the pedal to the metal with him as an innocent bystander.
For the record, he made it out of the pink, battery-driven monstrosity just fine.
I flipped through photo after photo of my grandparent’s abundance of friends, many of whom have unfortunately passed away. With each scanned photo I became more and more excited for this gift, as I knew it was going to be one that was cherished. I was getting to live so many of my grandparents and parents’ memories and relive many of mine. I felt a connection to their pasts that I couldn’t experience otherwise.
With the new year, many people opt to make resolutions. I don’t typically make resolutions, but I do usually carve out a few goals relating to family, friends, personal relationships, health and career.
For next year, my 2022 goal is simple: connect.
If there’s anything I’ve learned from looking at photos of the past, it’s that time waits for no one.
Time is fleeting, life is short.
I’m looking forward to creating new memories with the ones I care for and taking a conscious moment to try to slow down time in a world that is increasingly moving faster.
As always, thank you for reading our paper. Wishing you and yours a Happy New Year, and that over this holiday season you, too, were able to find time to recharge and reconnect.