Strangers from the past

Life, it seems, will fade away
Drifting further, every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters, no one else.

While the rest of the old Metallica banger Fade to Black doesn't really apply to this post, I wanted to borrow generously from the past kings to start it.

In a remote hyperconnected world, it is easy to get lost in your own world. My day starts with my work, I do some fun reading on the side, meet some IRL friends few times a week. There are many people from the past that just fade away into the horizon.

Social media has this knack of bringing them back into your feed, making you feel closer to them, yet consciously aware that you know nothing about them. How does one live with that thought?

Forgetting people has become harder, which means they're like lingering thoughts on a crowded platform, occupying space yet not contributing to the journey. Of course, as you grow up, you realise everyone brings some value to your life if you let them, since people always have done something that you might be attempting for the first time.

Especially if you had the luck of meeting good people in multiple phases of past lives. Horrible people and insignificant acquaintances are easy to forget, but it's the good ones that remain like festering wounds on your productivity and contentment.

I've decided to leave some of them behind. It was a hard call, but in wanting to fulfil friendships I could not compensate for, I lost parts of my own narrative. Realising the value I gain by investing in myself and my close ones, I have started to find it easier to cut bonds that were dragging be behind.