Overkill
Wow, I just got hit with the biggest wave of nostalgia. I have been rocking some old Spotify playlists recently and it's just wonderful. Listening to songs that were prevalent during different times in my life. Then I stumbled across this song that is currently on repeat - Overkill by Men at Work.
It's an old song, actually released in my birth year but I don't remember it from back then. I was thinking about saying it was playing when I was being born, but that would be overkill.
I will wait till you get it.
The nostalgia for this song is from when it appeared on the hit TV show Scrubs. That show, wow. It represents my life from ages 22 to 24, right up to when I got married. Someone left a box set at our apartment, and my roommate and best man Jonny and I watched it, and we were hooked. It was so funny, so warm and oddly deep and self-reflective. For the fans of the show, I just have to say the Brendan Fraser episode, and they are all nodding with respect and approval.
After watching this season (which I don't think was even season 1), our mission was clear. We needed to watch every season. Unfortunately, that was very difficult because they had only made 4 seasons at the time, and we didn't have streaming services back then. We needed to track down DVD's of it.
We were somewhat successful, and the DVD we could get our hands on we watched over and over again. On one of the episodes, Men at Work singer Colin Hay appears as a random guy with a guitar and plays this song. I had no idea he was the guy from Men at Work (famous for the Song 'Down Under'), but the song was so good it stuck out to me. It planted a memory that has lain dormant until tonight whilst listening to a random playlist on youtube music; all of a sudden Jack Black starts playing a cover mixup of some Australian songs, and he finishes with this song. The power of that nostalgia hits me with the full force of the 20 years it has sat maturing in my subconscious. I immediately found a youtube video of it on Scrubs and now I have found it on Spotify and it's on repeat.
So why do we love nostalgia so much? Well, I think it is the Instagram of our memories. It captures pictures of our past and glorifies certain aspects of it. It reminds me of a time when my only financial responsibility was rent and food. Where I could hang out with Jonny and my other friends as much as I wanted to and could spend hours watching DVD's. When I was young, and my whole life was ahead of me. This is where just like Instagram, nostalgia can turn into a monster as it turns its attention onto my life. I am not young, I have a lot more responsibilities, and I can't sit and watch DVDs. For one thing, I would need to find a DVD player at my local museum.
But what my nostalgia forgets were the times of loneliness. The times struggling with my self-confidence and self-worth. The times I had to borrow money to eat because I was broke. The times attempting and failing higher education. The many times dreaming about being a husband and a father one day.
There was a lot to celebrate about that season, but I will not let it trick me into believing that I once had something that I don't anymore. Even if that is true, the something I had is not something I want anymore. I didn't lose it, I left it - and now it lives trapped in a song that occasionally plays in my head.
I have written a lot about comparison before; I suggest you read the following blogs if you haven't:
In all of these, I keep coming back to this: the secret to not letting comparison hurt you is to fall in love with the journey you are on. Then when something like social media, someone else's possessions, or even an old memory tries to get you to compare, you literally don't have to.
So when you get a hit of nostalgia as I have, enjoy it, reminisce, and tell your loved one your story; but let it stay exactly where it is which is in the past. It doesn't belong in your future. To let it do anything else is simply overkill!
Boom, I did it. I flipping landed the ending. Wow. Just for that, I would subscribe and send it to a friend to do it as well.