With so many troubling situations going on around the world, many people, especially the younger generation, romanticize the past and chase the lifestyle of years before. 

But in my own personal opinion I feel like we most definitely should prioritize the present. Of course this sense of nostalgia sets off a certain special feeling in our minds and lets us reminisce on what seemed like peak life. We tend to recreate ourselves to be similar to how people used to be whether that’s the music we listen to and the way that we dress. 

But then how do we create a name for ourselves?

We as a generation need to find our own style. Our own sound. Life may have seemed better in the past but the present is what we make it. In order to be remembered it’s our responsibility to focus less on this escapism to the past and more on problem solving. The problems our generation struggles with do not disappear when we forget about them; they just sit still and grow. Trends are followed but maybe it’s more important to invest our time in participating in movements that push to solve problems we’re faced with.

We spend so much time on screens, staring and scrolling until time escapes us, but instead we should work on focusing on the real outside world. Of course, phones themselves bring problems involving mental health, but they let us escape into another world that lives in the past. But the past is where we live so let’s get up and create our own trends and our own styles, and solve the neglected problems our generation faces one step at a time.