When times are tough, we often hark back to days when things seemed better, when life ran more smoothly.

The issue with this is that we tend to only remember the good things, not the bad – the childhood summers that seemed to go on for months, the Christmases when presents were huge and we were not left wanting.

This rose-tinted view of the past is detrimental and can reinforce our connection to what has gone before, making us even less willing too connect fully with the present and look to the future.

Back in the day you had been part of the smart set
You’d holidayed with kings, dined out with starlets
From London to New York, Cap Ferrat to Capri
In perfume by Chanel and clothes by Givenchy
You sipped camparis with David and Peter
At Noel’s parties by Lake Geneva
Scaling the dizzy heights of high society
Armed only with a cheque-book and a family tree

You chased the sun around the Cote d’Azur
Until the light of youth became obscured
And left you on your own and in the shade
An English lady of a certain age
And if a nice young man would buy you a drink
You’d say with a conspiratorial wink
“You wouldn’t think that I was seventy”
And he’d say, “no, you couldn’t be!”

Divine Comedy: A Lady of a Certain Age