Rose-coloured lenses

Written By Apple Van

As Frank Ocean said “Rose-Coloured Lenses on my store bought frame. To see something different than these blues and grays”. As we grow, it's common to look back at younger years in our life and feel a sense of loss. Whenever the grade comes back that wasn't up to standard, we reminisce of the past as a time of ease and confidence- the time where life was easier, blissful and optimistic. Often we put on “Rose-coloured lenses” to compare the challenges in our present life with the freedom of the past. Looking back, life seemed like a blank slate; the pressures we faced seemed far off and happiness wasn't foreign. 

However, these lenses often distort realities. In the present moment, the weight of test scores, societal expectations and future worries cloud our brains which causes us to reach for the Rose-coloured lenses to blank things out and  to think about the happiness in the past that we now fail to feel. However, those rose-coloured lenses only present the good aspects of the past for they conceal the negative moments where we feel emotions similar to how we feel now. In short, rose-coloured lenses are a metaphor for when someone only views the positives in a situation, often occurring in relationships or even with the past.

To yearn the past is to forget about times where we felt challenged, alone or seeking comfort. To see today without rose-coloured lenses is to recognize that life is cyclical: hard times will always be evident, often in times we don't expect. Rather than that, seeing today with clarity, not by past ideals but by an honest awareness of who we are now, helps us understand the way to comprehend life in every stage, even difficult ones. A rocky road doesn't mean you don't get to the journey; it only means the journey had more rocks than expected. Just like the road behind us, the road before us will have its own jumps and turns. While potentially unrealistic, rose-coloured lenses often boost the mood and create a more pleasant mental experience; however, it is important to distinguish this from reality. These lenses are used as an escape to a more comforting version of reality. Only by acknowledging that hardships are not unique to the present can we learn to navigate the obstacles.