And by people, I mean myself in the first place. Ever since I read my first classic romance novel and watched my first period drama, which was more than 10 years ago, I started daydreaming about the past. I felt like I belonged to 16-19th centuries, and I was seriously dreaming about finding a time-machine that would take me to those eras. Throughout the years, my love for everything antique and old grew stronger. And now, for the first time in my life I realized, that I wouldn’t actually want to live in those centuries. This sudden realization made me ponder about why so many people, including me, romanticize the past so much, when in reality it wasn’t so perfect either.

Recently I’ve been reading “Shirley” by Charlotte Brontë, and, as usual, I started admiring the simplicity of those times. But then I was suddenly hit by a wave of rationality and reality. Would I really love to live in those years? When the majority of people weren’t financially stable, didn’t have proper medicine, electricity and water, would shower just once a few months or even less. When women practically didn’t have any rights, were dependent on man, and if they didn’t get married, that would be it for their poor and unfortunate lives. When women had to wear layers of heavy clothes and corsets every single day. When the social rules were above everything, and you should always act politely, speak when asked, behave yourself in a certain way, never show your true emotions and opinion, especially if there were men around.

This list can go on and on, but it’ll take too long. That’s when I realized, that I actually love living now in this very moment, no matter how messed up it is. Sure, I still love the fashion, architecture, art, slow lifestyle the simplicity of those times, I love how people were closer to nature and were less materialistic. I still love to daydream about old eras, but I wouldn’t trade it with the freedom that I have now. Freedom to choose how I want to live, how I want to behave myself. Freedom to express my thoughts without fears (though it is still a dangerous territory, especially online), to decide, whether I want to work, get married and have kids or live on my own. As I was reading the novel, I just imagined myself, with my beliefs and personality, being there with those characters and I realized that I wouldn’t fit in.

But this isn’t merely about me. I know that thousands, if not millions, of people romanticize the past, just like I do. I know that they’d kill to go back in time and, are sure, that they’d be entirely happy. But is this so? Or are they just as deceived as I was? Life has always been complicated. Each period has its pros and cons. The nowadays world is a havoc, I know that, and sometimes it feels like the more it goes, the worse it becomes. But the thing is that people never really appreciated that same past they now long for. I see so many people wanting to bring back the careless and fun 80s, 90s, 00s. Sure, the atmosphere of those years now feels somehow so soothing, warm and cozy. But I’m sure that back in those days people were still not happy with their lives. They were still comparing their present with the long-gone days.

I actually realized this due to 2020. Remember 2020? The deadly virus, the lockdowns, lots of people dying, getting ill, losing their jobs. I vividly remember how everyone was joking that it’s an actual end of the world, an apocalypse, that it’s the worst year in the history of humankind. But guess what, now everyone’s suddenly feeling nostalgic about 2020 and calling it such a peaceful time. Sounds strange, doesn’t it? If you pay attention, you’ll notice, how people are constantly complaining that it is a horrible year or month, but as soon as it remains in the past, it suddenly becomes an object of reminiscence and desire.

This all brings us to one conclusion. We’re ungrateful beings, who never enjoys and appreciates their lives in the present moment. But, as they say, understanding is the first step. Maybe if more people analyze the phenomenon of romanticization of the past, they’d realize, that life was never good, neither in the past, nor in the present. Or future. Life is as it is. It’s good one day, and terrible the next. It has fun moments and sad ones. It overcomes one type of problems and instantly comes up with new ones. It’s a cycle that spirals throughout the years and centuries. So, our only job is to accept life with all its sides and try to be as happy as possible in the present time, as it is the only one that we have.