One of my favorite songs from Taylor Swift is called Cornelia Street. In particular, I am a fan of her Live from Paris version, which I discovered on Spotify. I am a Taylor Swift fan, and there are so many of her songs that I could say are part of the soundtrack of my life.
Cornelia Street is just one of the many of T. Swift's songs that I love, but it is also one of my favorite songs to play and sing along to at the moment. According to the singer herself, the song is about memories and the nostalgia that we feel about certain locations and the things that have happened to us in those places.
The first time I heard the song, I immediately began reminiscing about the places, people, and events from my past. Cornelia Street had a melody that brought me back instantly to one particular part of it the first time I heard the song in full.
Just like the song, there was a time when I hoped to never lose a particular person in my life. I had wished that the moments with that individual never ended. The song made me think and reflect on how certain moments in life become memories that can make you both happy to remember them but sad at the same time because you know those moments will remain in the past forever.
Someone had asked online if anyone had their version of Cornelia Street in their lives. I know I do. It’s not one particular place, but the city where a part of my life happened. It was a city that gave me happy memories that became difficult to remember when it all ended because that was a part of my life that I know is over.
It would be easy to assume that the Cornelia Streets of our lives would become reminders of our past that would make us sad whenever we recall them. But as someone who has had a lot of time pass since the events of my Cornelia Street story ended, I have learned that you do get over these things with time. You may think that you never will, but – if you allow it – you truly can get over it and move on.
A friend of mine once said that one way to move on from sad memories associated with a certain place is to make new ones. I agree with that. Once you have built newer, happier memories in the same place, the former memories that you have wanted to move on from will start to fade away. A little footnote in your memory that will be overshadowed by the better memories you have built over them.
Another way that you can move on from Cornelia Street memories? Making peace with them. Facing them head-on and accepting that they are just that: memories. It was sad to recall my Cornelia Street story at first, but as time passed, I grew to be grateful for it. I was happy. They were good memories and I knew that I came out of it a better person. I have no regrets. That was a part of my life, and it played a role in making me who I am now. I have moved on from it and moved forward. I have gotten to the phase of my life where these memories may feel nostalgic, but there is no sadness anymore. It’s like a movie you once loved: you remember it fondly, but you don’t care to watch it all over again. You can look back and remember the good parts (and maybe even laugh at the cringe-y moments too) but you do not want to relive it all over again. I think it is such a waste of time to dwell on the past when you have the rest of your life to look forward to. When you have so many more new and better memories to make.
It may not feel like it to some, especially to those whose memories are still fresh, but I believe that if we allow ourselves, we can move on from the Cornelia Streets of our lives. We can look back on it as part of our past, but we do not dwell on it because our minds and our hearts are fixed forward to making new memories.
In a way, my loving Taylor Swift’s Cornelia Street is proof of me moving forward. I listen to it and recall the Cornelia Street of my life, but I do not feel sad about it. A bit nostalgic, maybe, but not sad. I look back and I see how much I have grown and changed from that part of my life and I am very happy about it. I’ve moved on and done well for myself since then. Looking back on how I never thought I would be able to move on, I feel like I should be patting myself on the back and telling myself, “Good job, you.” That’s how much I have made my peace with this part of my life and the memories that go along with it.
For anyone out there who listens to this song and has sad feelings involved with the Cornelia Street of their life, I feel for you. I have been there. But I am here to tell you that you can and you will, eventually, move on. Allow yourself the time to wallow, but also give yourself the chance to move forward. In life, that is all we ever can do when things do not work out the way we hoped they would. Move forward and move on. Remember that the past will always stay in the past. We cannot change it. But the future? There is so much potential there if we open ourselves up to it. There are still so many chapters of your book waiting to be written.
Now excuse me while I go play and sing my heart out along to Cornelia Street.
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