Nostalgia for the future

Perception of time can be strange. This is the 75. post in my 100 day project. It feels like I've been working on it for an eternity. I can't wrap my head around the fact that it will be over in a bit more then three weeks. Considering how fast the last week went by, the next three weeks will be gone in the blink of an eye as well.

Your recollection of your past is incomplete. You only remember things you feel strongly about. The holes that are left behind by this are subconsciously filled based on the present. That's why you remember the games you played as a child with much better graphics. You may remember how great the game looked for its time, or how much fun you had with it. But you don't remember how it actually looked like. Your mind fills this hole based on your current expectation of how video games look like. And so, if you would play that game again, you would wonder about how much worse it looks. Imagining the future can have the same effect.

It's tempting to think of next month or the next project, and picturing how amazing it will be. This will inevitably remind you of how hard your current project is. That it's not fun anymore and has become a chore. If you catch yourself doing this, take a few minutes to think about how it would feel like to start this next project you are looking forward to right now. Suddenly, it might feel just as uncomfortable as what you're currently working on. This doesn't mean the next project will be bad, or that it's not something to look forward to. But just as nostalgia distorts your past, anticipating the future distorts your expectation towards it.