Column: Look into the past, appreciate your graveyards

Megan Ivey, Associate News Editor

If I could work for my dream company, it would be Ben and Jerry’s.

While they are highly recommended as the go-to breakup food, they are underrated in their insightfulness.

I visit the ice cream company’s site more than most. In reality, the idea to look on the website in the first place might be visiting more than most.

No, I am not checking in to see what the next flavor of ice-cream I’ll sob into.

On the website, one can find current flavors, employee profiles (did you know there is the very-real job title of “Flavor Guru” where people create flavors and become professional taste-testers?) and one of the most creative ways to say goodbye.

I check the site periodically for its section titled the “Flavor Graveyard.”

The Flavor Graveyard is where the company pays tribute to its discontinued flavors. With a photo of a tombstone it states the flavor, years in distribution, and a short and often humorous eulogy.

While I am still bitter that my favorite flavor, Brownie Batter (2003-2011), has made it to the Graveyard, I think the concept is ingenious.

For years, a figurative graveyard has intrigued me.

I look at my life and think of all the aspects that could be incorporated into my graveyard.

Like the ice cream company, I could give odes to the objects of my past.

My life has been full of past (and questionable) fashion choices, cars, homes, friendships, relationships, music tastes and beliefs, and I am only 20 years in.

The point of the graveyard is not to become a hoarder, and collect all past objects.

Say goodbye to a favorite outgrown t-shirt, a love letter that no longer holds meaning or a broken-down car. Use the “graveyard” metaphorically, as a way to store all of the memories and experiences previously created.

Everyone has graveyards, and not all are meant to be skeletons in the closet, secrets you wish to never come out.

Some aspects of life simply pass, or are outgrown. These are the graveyards that should be celebrated.

Think back to two, five, ten years ago. Were you living in the same location, with the same people, holding the same beliefs and perspective of life?

Experiences are what make a person sensible. Reflecting and learning from the experiences are what makes a person wise.

A ‘’graveyard” is a way to visualize memories and past experiences. They are not tombstones, but rather milestones that should be remembered, good or bad.

Take time to look back on them, and see how it got you to where you are today.

This holds true even for the “graveyard of past relationships,” for it might bring you to something as delicious as Ben and Jerry’s.

Megan Ivey is a sophomore journalism major and she can be reached at [email protected].