Nostalgia is a highlight reel with the boring parts cut out. The past wasn’t that easy either.

Memory keeps the peaks and discards the long flat stretches, so any earlier year you compare today against has been edited in your favor. That is why the present always looks cluttered and the past looks clean. You are measuring an ordinary Tuesday against someone else’s best moments, and the someone else is you.

When the old days start looking better, try to recall what you were actually worried about back then. Look at an old photo and remember the hour around it, not the second. Then give this week the generosity you give a memory.