As I enter senior year and put into perspective the memories I have made here, the word nostalgia comes to mind. Nostalgia allows us to put on rose-colored glasses as we re-experience events from our past, especially those that we associate with meaningful times and places in our lives.
In my work with marketing and design, I’ve realized that this wistful affection for the past encourages brands to reimagine designs from old releases. This new focus has been very prominent in sports marketing and can also be seen in the latest fashion trends. Brands doing this acknowledges our, the consumers’, longing to revisit our past experiences.“I’m not a kid anymore, but there are still places I can feel safe.” I recently heard these words as part of a poem written by my uncle and they feel important to continue sharing as I reflect on my experience at Goshen College. This quote resonates with me because I have never equated safety and being a kid. However, the more I think about it the more it has been true about my life and who I am. I am happiest in places where I feel safe to be myself. Being at GC, I have been able to grow into a kid.
There are so many memories made during my time in college I will be nostalgic about. Being on summer staff at Camp Friedenswald, singing “We Love You Goshen” after sporting events, late nights working at The Record, woods parties, amazing conversations with friends, time spent at Java, 409, 309, the countless memories made on SST in Ecuador, are just a few on the list. More can be named and I hope you as well start a list of important memories.
As I reflect on why these and many other memories have been so powerful, I realize it is because of the safety I have felt in those moments, and how that safety has given me the space to be a kid. These spaces feel significant because they allow me to step into a mindset of childlike wonder, excitement about relationships, the curiosity and readiness to talk to others, and the freedom to live without judgment. It is the people I’ve been surrounded by in these moments that will make them feel so nostalgic.
As I start to think beyond college and prepare for a life after, I get scared. That settles in close to the heart of it all: the real world is scary. I wonder if there are ways to make the future feel less daunting; are there ways to bring these nostalgic sentiments with us to our new experiences while not being stuck in the past?
In talking about graduation, I feel apprehensive about next steps and where the future will lead, but I also acknowledge that one day those too will feel like nostalgic moments in understanding what it means to step into true adult life. Like my uncle said, “I’m not a kid anymore, but there are still places I can feel safe.”
Moving forward, I hope to be able to feel more comfortable in settings that don’t feel quite as safe, while leaving room to seek out safety because it allows me to be a kid. As I seek out that safety in my life, there will be places and people, like GC and the community found here, that allow me to be a kid.
It is in these spaces that I will be nostalgic about the community I’ve found here at GC, and why I can confidently say that these child-like memories will stay with me every step of the way as I establish myself beyond college life.
