Years ago, our parents toted leg warmers, leather jackets, and full denim fashion. Today, we go online and see soapy brows, blueberry milk nail colors, and tutorials on how to achieve the perfect “clean girl look.” To older generations, these new versions of trending fashions are ridiculous, pointless distractions for children today to focus on. But similarly, Gen Z could argue the same thing. We see generational conflict everywhere: Millennials fighting with Gen Z, Baby Boomers versus Millennials. So how can anyone, including our generation, keep up with what is officially “trending” in our society? Some say the reason is stubbornness, a detachment from reality, or entitlement. In reality, the answer has always been obvious: the fear of change. 

In our society today, it’s easy to get lost in the translation of our lives. We’re forced to juggle the changes of work, education, and other factors just to meet the expectations put upon us by other generations. To combat the stress, we’ve created environments where we can express ourselves, reminisce on happier moments from the past and escape from our reality. But as time goes on, it seems as if the excitement of our favorite childhood reboot or rebranding of a childhood toy has fallen short and turned bittersweet and repetitive.

Why do we feel this way? The feeling of nostalgia, a fond remembrance of times past, has kept us all from living too much in the moment for decades. It’s helped remind us of what we once gained and lost, what we’ve loved and kept, and how we once felt; a sense of belonging. It should be something we want to keep ahold of, we want to keep experiencing. In spite of that, it seems as if huge companies and corporations have picked up on this, and have profited from the once happy feeling we used to share among one another. They’ve turned fond memories into quick advertisements and cheap toys.

So what do we do? We need to be more appreciative of different generations’ ideas to prevent ourselves from becoming trapped in the generational cycle of hatred for other age groups. Trends will always come and go, but as long as we don’t let our focus on the past overwhelm our presence in the future, we can allow ourselves to truly live in the moment, and be happy in our present.