What a year it’s been, especially here in Toronto, Canada. Our band formed in the middle of 2021, where restrictions lifted a bit, but Covid was still around. As the year comes to an end, the variant is making numbers multiple faster than it has before we came together.
I don’t know how your year went, so it’s always hard to know what to say during the holidays. Maybe 2021 was better than 2020, or it may have been worse. You could have lost your job or your home. You may have lost a loved one or a lover, and you are feeling extremely lonely this year.
When you’re broke and just focusing on surviving, or dealing with mental health issues, I know the holidays and Christmas time may be the last thing on your mind.
It’s been hard, and we really don’t know what next year may hold….But I think that’s why Christmas is a time of reflection and gratefulness for me. It’s a sign that we made it to the end of another year.
I definitely didn’t come from a rich or priviledged background. Rather, I, Nostalgia, grew up in the Jane and Finch area of Toronto. Many young ones died due to gang and gun violence. I knew students who died, one on a field trip, one due to tainted drugs at a festival the year after graduating. Other kids went to my schools who also passed away, one got hit by a truck on her first day of high school.
What more, one music teacher who I spent a lot of time with her 2 years at my school, passed away 4 years after that, at the young age at 32. While we had 2 music teachers at one point, I had her for 1 year, she offered violin/viola lessons after school one year (where I learned viola), and she was also a part of Choir, the Musical, and Drumline, which I also took part in. She was part of an orchestra and loved to spread her love of music to young people like me.
As hard as life could be at times, I’m always so grateful that I’ve lived as long as I did, and was never put in dangerous or life-threatening situations. Knowing how lucky I am only pushed me to make the most of my life.
I almost let fear hold me back, and I definitely lived a safe life where I just focused on working, paying debts, and saving up for many years, but after that, I knew I didn’t want to live with regrets. Being negative, playing victim, hating the world, isn’t going to do anything for me.
Take time to heal, especially from traumatic experiences. Cry if you want to cry, cause holding it in is just bottling up your feelings. Say what you need to say, especially to those who have hurt you. Forgive those who hurt you, or cut the relationship if they don’t make you feel good.
A better and happier future is a possibility if you believe it is. Where you are now, and how things are now, is not how it’s going to be forever. You have the power to change things in your own life.
Believe me <3 Dream of bigger, better things and take action to make that a reality.
Have a wonderful holiday season and merry christmas to those who celebrate.