What’s Important Then vs. Now

Years ago I remember when I went to college I couldn’t wait to graduate and go off into the world to make an impact.  It seemed like there was so much to do and experience, that the town I grew up in was too small to give me the breadth of experience I wanted at that point in my life.

Now that I have moved to the town where I went to college my perspective is quite different.  It’s been shaped by the many different experiences I’ve had out in the world.  I’m perfectly content to be back here today, even though in the past this place seemed too small for me.

Yesterday, Peter and I took a drive up into the mountains for a change of scenery. As we drove through some of the steep and narrow roads I used to climb when I was racing bicycles, I noticed how different they seemed to be from when we lived here a few decades ago.  

The roads are now wider and in better shape (more people live up there today!) and there is less brush along the road (there have been several flash floods over the years since).  

We started to talk about how our lives have evolved from the time we met in school to today and how our perspective is what has changed, not so much the road and brush.  All the life experiences that we’ve had have shaped who we have become and as we’ve moved through life what was important to us changed as well.

When we first talked about moving back last year, it was because I was ready to come back.  I had many of the experiences I wanted to have when I graduated and moving closer to family seemed like the right next step.  Since we were at a transition point in Santa Cruz it worked out just right.

Thinking about the different way I viewed this place as a student and young adult relative to how I view it today is so relevant for the post-pandemic world we are entering now.  Just because I had a particular perspective a number of years ago, doesn’t mean it can’t change to something that is different, yet more relevant to the me I am today.

You can think about relationships, your health, or your livelihood in the same manner.  How are you different than you’ve been in the past?  Do those changes impact how you view where you are today?  Does it shift how you might live and the choices you make going forward?