Once again, time has run away with me, and I’m guilty of posting all the time in my head, but not at all the past couple of weeks here. But I just thought of an interesting topic to write about, so here I am!
I’m thinking about the difference in enjoying something new vs. enjoying something old. How often do you have to make the choice between trying something new or sticking with something familiar? I wonder what the percentage is of people who choose new over tried and true.
When you pick a book to read, do you always go for something you haven’t read before? Something on your wish list or a new recommendation? Or do you choose to re-read an old favorite and immerse yourself in a comfortable world you already know the outlines of, with characters you have maybe missed? I find, if you have a long enough time since the last time you read a book, when you pick it up again years later, it’s almost like reading it for the first time, even though the shape of it fits like a favorite well-worn sweater. I love re-reading good books, and I find new things in them every time.
When you go out to eat, do you choose a restaurant that you’ve previously been to? Order the same thing you had last time, that you really liked? Or do you always want to go to the newest, trendiest, most happening place and try something new, maybe something you’ve never had before? When we went back to Chicago in 2017, I was absolutely thrilled to find that one of my favorite restaurants from when I had lived in the city, was still there, and what’s more, had the same menu still. I ordered my favorite dish from 20 years before, and it was JUST AS GOOD.
Whenever we go out, even if it’s to restaurants we’ve been to before, I often peruse the entire menu, and seriously think of ordering something different, and look at things I’ve never tried and think “hmmm, that looks/sounds good” and still find myself ordering the same thing I had the last time, because it was good, and I want it again. It’s actually rarer that I order something I haven’t tried before though it does happen occasionally. I’m not completely predictable!
When you watch a movie, don’t you sometimes choose one you’ve already seen, just to enjoy it all over again? Or a TV show, though I find that’s often harder, since lots of shows I would re-watch aren’t to be found on any streaming service.
My Spotify playlist is a huge mix of old and new. I have songs from artists from the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s and into the last 20 years. I still listen to artists my father introduced me to when I was really young: Glenn Yarbrough, Mac Davis, Peter Paul & Mary. I listen to artists that were radio steadies when I was in junior high, artists that friends and lovers and colleagues introduced me to over the years during high school and college and my pre-married life. I listen to great Swedish artists that my husband introduced me to. He used to bring me home a CD by a different Swedish artist every time he went to Sweden when we were first dating, and living together.
I have a second great playlist that Martin created for me as a Christmas present a couple of years ago, that he adds new music to, for me. Curated just for me! I listen sometimes to the songs that Spotify’s algorithm picks for me weekly and sometimes I add them to my playlist…whether they are old or new. Whether the artist is someone I’m familiar with or not.
Sometimes you just want to hear the great old hits, like when you’re at a party and Dancing Queen or YMCA comes on and everyone screams and starts flailing their arms about. Even my kids do it, and YMCA came out 20 years before they were even born.
It often seems like everyone is looking for something new, all the time. Tastes are constantly changing and it’s a battle against boredom with having new flavors, new foods, new shows, new sounds, and, well, news. Advertising and marketing are guilty of feeding into that tendency, and getting people to believe that new is better. Maybe it is, but maybe not all the time. It is fun to be the one who finds something first: a great restaurant, a fantastic brand new book to recommend to all your friends, a TV show that blows you away. The thrill of that is part of the charm and excitement of the new. But even old stuff is new to those who haven’t experienced it.
We all want to be up on the latest. But sometimes, I think being up on the loved is just as valid. It’s a nice feeling to be able to move forward with the new, while at the same, lean back on the comfort of the past.
Mood: contemplative
Music: Mêlée—Built to Last