I have just come back from a late night jaunt to Tesco on a mission to satisfy my craving for ice-cream. Ben and Jerry’s is currently on offer, better than half price, and as you all know I cannot resist a bargain. So it’s past two am and I’m still wide awake despite having a dress rehearsal tomorrow at 10am. Have I learnt my lines? Do I even have my costume ready? Well, that is somewhat questionable. Regardless, I am sitting in the kitchen and Chloe is eating rice out of a bag, we are singing along to Taylor Swift, Hannah is making rice crispy cakes in shot glasses because we don’t have any muffin cases, whilst I am working my way through a tub of caramel chew chew. Classic night in at university. Seems like as good a time as any to start my next post.
On the walk back from Tesco, Jake said something that struck me which will be the basis of this post:
I have had good moments but I have never had a good day as something always manages to ruin it.
This is such a poignant assertion and sparked a passionate conversation with everyone having very different opinions. We discussed the premise of a ‘perfect day’, whether ignorance really is bliss which then digressed into a debate on the merits of utilitarianism in theory and in practice. You have to love our late night chats.
What I really want to discuss is whether bad moments turn a day from good to bad and if it is better to completely forget about bad events and moments. In my last post I briefly mentioned about the dangers of romanticising the past and tonight this notion was questioned. I’ll be the first one to put my hands up when I am wrong so I really wanted to think this through properly.
Mark proposed an interesting idea suggesting it was better to ignore all the things that could make a day bad and just focus on the good moments. In this line of thinking every day is a good day. This is such an optimistic and ‘glass half full’ mentality which I feel is important, if not slightly idealistic.
Personally, I feel like not being able to be aware of the bad in the past is like when I take off my glasses. Of course I can still see but the edges are blurred and my perception is warped. In my opinion when you overemphasise the greatness of the past it creates an unrealistic and inaccurate memory which makes future happiness unattainable. I just wonder how anyone can truly enjoy anything later in life if they think past events were perfect and fault-free. I believe we as humans operate comparatively therefore, when something inevitably goes wrong how will we be equipped to handle that if we have forgotten that the past was not perfect?
So maybe, Jake is right and I never really have had a good day.
However, although I can rationally understand where he is coming from, emotionally I struggle to agree; I really have had good, some great and even perfect days. I recently went on a trip to Alton Towers and I had what I can only describe as the best day ever. However, there were some not so great moments like not wanting to go on – and then getting drenched – on the log flume ride, overpriced food, the best ride in the park being closed, the awareness that I was missing a full day of rehearsals and the fact that last-minute one of my closest friends could not come on the trip. Did this mean that it was not a good day? Of course not. Bad moments do not have to completely tarnish a good day.
Therefore, I’d suggest we all have to live somewhere in the middle of Mark and Jake. This means having the ability to decipher good moments from bad moments, understanding that not every day will be good but also being able to sometimes dismiss these thoughts in order to enjoy life and be happy.
Thank you for reading this post and I would love to hear any thoughts you have on this subject!
It’s just me, Dammy, and today was a good day.
xxx
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