Do You Wish You Could Return to a Moment from Your Past? YES, I wish.


There are many dull and stressful phases in my life, and one of them is now. I’m a high school junior that has to start thinking about college applications on top of my academics and extracurricular commitments. My weekends aren’t weekends anymore. My 10 minute breaks don’t feel like 10 minute breaks. I often have wishful thoughts of returning to the happier moments of my past. And by happy, I mean the carefree times.

There is not really one moment that I often think of. I have many notable memories that often replay in my head. Sometimes, I visualize the warm weather of Cancun, Mexico. I enjoyed trying to unsuccessfully pick the coconuts high up in the trees near the hotel we stayed at with my little sister and this other girl whose name I have long forgotten but face I haven’t. We could not find anything long enough for us to hit the coconuts with, so I tried climbing the tree only to slide right back down after getting like six inches off the ground. It was a little disappointing at that time, but also kind of funny thinking back. I also enjoyed scuba diving in shallow waters, trying to capture slippery rainbow fish with my underwater camera.

Or, sometimes I would visualize myself in Hangzhou, China, eating ice cream, riding boats, and climbing the Leifeng Pagoda with my silly cousin by the famous West Lake. There were many funny stories like how my first grade cousin who had accidentally spilled his Sprite onto his wooden seat at a restaurant tried to use the water gun we bought near the boating place to suck up all the liquid. Uncle Zhanghao sighed and told him that there were napkins on the table. But, he continued to try with the water gun.

I even think about laying on my bed and daydreaming about being a rich and even more amazing CEO (who may or may not be an extra 6 inches taller) with so much time on my hands to do whatever nonsense I want to do in life without a care in the world about all the chaining factors. It would buy every Pokemon plush. Every popular action manga. Unhealthy quantities of boba. And use my wealth to control the government. My thoughts can get crazily ominous sometimes, but I would never do such evils in real life. Sounds unreasonable, but let me be in my delusions.

Being on vacation mentally and physically has been a way for me to take the to-do list out of my head because every commitment that worries me is far away. Responsibilities in respect to time are probably the main catalyst of worry that keeps me from enjoying events. I don’t have to use intense brainpower, stress over due dates, or even think about a grueling to-do goals list.

But these daydreams do sidetrack me from actually doing the things that need to be done. Maybe that’s why it takes me twice as long to finish my homework or write an essay than the teacher recommended number of hours. I should try enjoying the present more even if it is hard; it might help me lock in better. But it’s hard. I would probably need to be an always happy person overall to do that.

Comments

  1. AnonymousFebruary 3, 2025 at 12:45 PM

    For constructive comments, I think here and there, there are some sentences that feel a bit strange (very specific, I know), like 'There is not really one moment that I often think of. I have many...' The full stop in between those feels a bit odd to me, but maybe I'm just going crazy. There's moments like this throughout ('happier moments of my past. And by...').

    In regard to what I like about your essay, my favorite paragraph is the third one where you talk about being in Hangzhou. The whole scene depicted feels like that whole 'Inside Out' thing where they get a memory ball and project it, especially where it slips into a narrative vibe with 'Uncle Zhanghao sighed and told him...'. It immediately brings up my own memories with friends and going to Central Park or wherever and just having fun. Very childlike whimsy, 10/10.

    One small comment that I have that I believe is neither criticism nor commendation is in regard to your third to last paragraph. It feels kind of like a bit of a comic relief paragraph where you move into the daydream that you introduce with the first sentence of the paragraph, but I'm not entirely sure how it works for me. It feels a bit jarring after that third paragraph.

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  2. Sabrina LuFebruary 3, 2025 at 1:00 PM

    This was fun to read! I like the way you take the reader through different vacations you've been on (I especially liked the bit about Hangzhou). Something that make them even more vivid is adding more sensory detail like touch or smell. Some of the sentences felt a little awkward as well, so you might want to break them up with commas or into separate sentences. For me, the ending felt a little rushed and I think you had some good points in your reflection that you could expand on more deeply. I liked the second to last paragraph, but the last sentence felt a bit sudden. If you want, I think you could either expand on it more or play around with different endings (maybe something like “but for now I’ll stick to ____(vacation/imagination example)” kinda like the procrastination essay we read).

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  3. SalmaFebruary 4, 2025 at 11:14 AM

    Hi Kaylee! Your story was very relatable and fun to read. I also find myself wishing I could go back to the past, especially as a junior in high school. I know that the purpose of this prompt is to reflect on moments from your past, but something you can also do is go more in depth with how your life has changed since then and how you typically spend your days now as a junior in high school. When did this change happen? Was it the start of junior year or the start of high school in general? Did this affect you socially/mentally? Overall, this was a very nice essay!

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