LOOKING BACK

    Seniors now retired often reminisce about their younger years and in looking back sometimes express regret that they had not accomplished some things, gone to college or even finished high school. Feelings of nostalgia engulf them and they long for their younger years when they were physically and mentally adroit to master all kinds of feats they now watch the younger generation enjoy. This nostalgia can blunt the wonderful human potential they still have now to empower themselves. It seems that the trials and tribulations they have experienced in life have weighed heavily upon them so much so that they have lost sight of who they are and what strength and energy they have. This situation is often labeled incorrectly depression.
    If they are in good physical condition, it's really more an attitude of "misery likes company ". That is to say, for them it's easier to lament over their emptiness than to take the bull by the horns and become active in new pursuits. People with such an outlook have often had disappointments or been discouraged when they were younger. The mental abilities they had when they were younger are still with them. It's just they are at this stage of life blindsided by trying to look back deluded in thinking their physical strength is the same as their mental ability. The fact of the matter is their body is not at the level it was at age twenty.
    Now that you have reached this place in reading this article you might think these preceding ideas don't apply to you. But for those who identify with what I have said try to realize that your life is still vibrant and full of opportunities for you to enjoy. Stop malingering in the past because that will stunt your growth. Your past experiences may have contributed to your feelings of anger as well as disappointment. You could be living with lingering anger, too. Feelings of envy, jealousy or even revenge can haunt you. You have the ability to rise above these negative views and change your attitude.
    If you think that you have had a raw deal along your life's road, remember you are not the only one who has lived with misery and even so  it does not mean you have to be trapped in miserable past thoughts. Nostalgia is sometimes your tool used to project blame on others for your own lack of accomplishment. You own those things you missed doing. You're melancholy is an escape from taking responsibility for your life. It's an attitude that becomes an excuse to sit and brood over what you don't have and can't do. It's called indolence and, if you really think about it, you have developed it as a skill to being idle, apathetic, indifferent, uninterested, listless or lethargic.
    I don't believe, as some might say that you have become lazy. This word brings me to a play on words because if one chooses to say that you are lazy, I believe it's not so.  Being lazy is what you are doing. You are not doing anything? You are doing something " nothing!" The interesting thing is you have become habituated to doing nothing so long that it's time to  stop being stagnant and start looking forward.