Heipei

It’s been a while since I wrote the last post on this blog, and I’m sure you’re just as surprised to see a new post as I am. Let’s see how long I will actually be able to continue this streak first.

So why do I post now, after all this time? The immediate answer to this question should be: Why the hell not? Lately it feels to me that it is way too easy to find excuses for not doing things we wouldn’t have hesitated about doing when we were younger. Worse, often those are the things that don’t cost us anything yet always used to fill us with joy.

Yes, this is a post about getting older. And about looking back. But it’s also about looking forward. I’m not someone who believes in being too old for something. Sure, if you tell yourself you are too old to do something then it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. But there’s plenty of folks that don’t even think about being too old, or too busy, or too mature to do something. They just do it. So here’s to being more like these people. Not all the time, but when it feels right.

I might do a separate post on this at some point, but the gist is that we experienced a ton of things over the past six years. Many of them good, many of them truly unique, but also some very sad. And now, after a lot of ups and downs, it starts to feel like we are slowly emerging from the crazy gauntlet of challenges that life threw at us. At the end of this proverbial tunnel we can see the light of day again and look forward to things we have missed over the past few years.

For me this is a great time to look back and reconnect with everything I still remember fondly: Friends we used to hang out with, places we used to visit and just small everyday activities that filled our life. For me a big part of what filled me with happiness has always been traveling and taking photos. After many years with small children and a global pandemic we are finally in a position again to travel to new places and make new experiences. This is me making a promise to myself to continue this blog and fill it with our travels.

But apart from the obvious pastimes like travel and food I’ve re-discovered many small things I used to enjoy. I’ve been listening to music I have listened to in many years (German hip-hop and Techno, in case you’re curious), been re-watching dumb tv shows from my past and played video games after more than a decade of not doing that at all. I like to believe that I’m a different person now than a decade ago. But I also feel like some things about yourself simply don’t change. Those are the things you should embrace unapologetically.

Coming back to the title of this post: It is all too simple to look back at the past and remember all the things that have been, and could have been, and never will be again. But it is much more fun to look back at the past as a treasure-trove of experiences that will influence everything you do going forward. And that’s the only way there is: Onward!