To Fight Nostalgia

Hello and good day!

It is an unfortunate fact of life that all good things must come to an end. Whether we want it to or not, time continues to march forward.

 Special moments come and go.There are certain moments you wish you could just stretch out. They are so good, and they fill your heart up so much, that you’d give almost anything to keep them going.

 But it doesn’t work that way. No matter how hard you cling to it, time will slip from your grasp.

 This raises many interesting philosophical questions.

 Given that we all have these collections of special moments that we remember fondly and cherish deeply, is it better to live in the past? 

Or is it better to constantly live in pursuit of the next special moment, trying to recreate a certain feeling that warms us up?

 Or should we always attempt to enjoy the present, no matter how mundane it may be sometimes?

 What is the best way to say goodbye to the times we have enjoyed and that have meant so much to us, knowing that we don’t get to live them again?

 Over the last several days, I have been thinking and thinking about this. How should a person deal with memories?I have to admit to something.

 Memories eat me up sometimes.

 I saw the movie about Whitney Houston not too long ago. There is a scene in it when Whitney Houston and Clive Davis are working on picking out Whitney’s next single. Whitney Houston says that she doesn’t want to sing another sappy love song.

 And Clive Davis retorts that essentially every hit song in history has been about love.

 The time in our lives when we fell in love looms large. Remember that first kiss?Remember the look in that person’s eyes right after? Remember the excitement you felt when you knew you were going to see them?

 After many years of marriage, I can honestly say that I love my wife more than I ever have. But it would still be nice to go back and do it all again, wouldn’t it?

 To stand out underneath a night sky filled with stars, with cold air blowing through, and you not knowing what was going to happen. To get up your courage and lean in, hoping that she feels the same way you do.

 And then finding out that she wants you just as much as you want her. There is nothing like it, and you really only get to live it that one time.

 My oldest son barely wants to get a hug from me anymore.I almost have to sneak up on him when he isn’t looking and steal hugs from him against his will.

 But there was a time when I’d throw him up on my shoulders and gallop around like a horse for hours.He’d sit up there and wrap his arms around my head and kiss me on the side of the face. Of course, he is too big to kiss me now, and he’ll never go back to being small. And he'll never vacuum the house in his diapers with the Beatles blaring in the background ever again either.

 I remember dead relatives who I loved so much.I won’t get to see them or talk to them ever again. Since they’re gone and not coming back, is it a good thing to sit and think about them and remember the times we had together?

What point does it serve?

 Nostalgia usually makes me more sad than happy, and yet I can’t help but engage in it.

 So what gives? What is a person supposed to do?

 I honestly believe that trying to cook up adventure after adventure is chasing after the wind. Special moments in life tend to happen organically.

 You don’t plan to fall in love. The birth of your first child comes on nature’s clock. You don’t get to pencil it in.

 I remember the first time I tasted our 68% dark chocolate, and I felt my future crashing into my present and I knew what my life’s work would be. When I think about that moment, it makes me wish I could go back and taste our chocolate again for the first time.

 After walking around, racking my brain, ruminating on this topic for the last several days, I’ve only been able to come up with one thing.

 I think there is only one force powerful enough to overcome the pangs your heart feels when you think about the special times you don’t get to live again. 

When you think about the special people you don’t get to see again. When you think about not getting to see your kids grow up all over again. When you think about not getting to kiss your sweetheart for the first time again.

 There is only one thing.

 The only thing you can do is drain every ounce of yourself in service to others. Service is the antidote to nostalgia. And service comes in many forms.

 Whatever you can do to light up somebody else’s life is what will always light up your own life.

 I’m positive about that.

 In this regard, the Biblical teaching that it is better to give than to receive is one of the most potent weapons against sadness. When I contemplate that, I feel extremely blessed to be in the business that we are in.

 Bringing delicious chocolate into people’s lives, tending to them in our retail locations, and knowing that by doing so we are also helping to improve the lives of hundreds of cacao farm families, these things help to sustain me when I feel the loss of the past pulling on me.

 But working in a chocolate business is just one of an infinite number of ways to serve. 

We can all do something.

I hope that you have your thing too.

 Thank you so much for your time today.

 I hope that you have a truly blessed day!

Adam

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