Does anybody have years you look back on fondly that you may have not as liked as well when living them?  Here are a few of mine.

2004 - This was a very polarizing year in my personal life.  I graduate high school and started college that year.  I also built my first gaming PC that summer.  That fall, I finally got broadband.  It was an exciting year.  However, there were also a lot of growing pains that year that came in the form of drama with my family.  In addition to that, I had a heartbreak that summer.  Back in 2004, I wasn't the happiest person and was quite depressed.  However, looking back on it, I remember it quite fondly for all the good that happened in my life that year.

2009 - Like 2004, this year was extremely polarizing in my personal life.  I came out of the closet and had a boyfriend that summer.  I did a lot of drinking and clubbing that year and really got to experiment and explore myself.  Me and my boyfriend went on a Deep South road trip all the way to Charleston, SC and that week was one of the best weeks of my life.  Later in the year I moved to a large city on the East Coast which began the best three years of my life.  Looking back over the course of my life, I can't think of any year that was more exciting and stimulating than 2009.  That year did have a dark side though and in other ways it was one of the worst years of my life.  One of those ways is after my parents found out I was gay, they began a long, brutal period of constant calls, texts, and Bible verses to make sure I knew how much God hated gay people.  My grandparents called me on my birthday in August that year and told me I was going to hell and there was no hope for me unless I prayed for God to make me straight.  I saw my parents the last time that year before moving and I drove away from my childhood home crying with my dad screaming that God was laughing at my tears and hates f-g--ts.  I was devastated.  Plus, things were changing so fast so quickly in my life that the stress of things really got to me and made things almost surreal.  Late 2009 was a blur for me in so many ways.  I remember being so glad when New Years 2010 came because I didn't think 2009 was a great year at the time. Looking back on that year, I remember it very fondly because despite all the bad that happened, 2009 and 2010 were like the only time of my life I could actually be myself and explore my sexuality and also experienced so much life has to offer that I had never experienced before.  It was a definite highlight of my life.

2015 - The bright spot of the mid '10s.  Music was better that year than in 2014 or 2016.  I finally had a close friend to hang with after having a difficult time making friends after moving back to my hometown.  Me and him would go to Dallas a lot and going there was a huge rush compared to the small city I live in.  All-in-all, it was an excellent year that while not on par with 2009 and the early '10s, was one of the better years of my life.  The exception of course was July 2015 when the same-sex marriage decision happened.  The reaction from my family and almost everybody I knew was very difficult to deal with.  This, in addition to having just come out of the worst depression of my life (late 2012-late 2014), I didn't appreciate 2015 as much as I probably should have.

I guess the moral of this story is to try to appreciate today as much as you can because we never know if in a few years, this will be one of those times we look back on wishing we would have enjoyed it more.

Does anybody else have years like these?

I wish I enjoyed.....

1999 more. - I hated the teen pop back then, except Britney Spears. I guess I'm a hypocrite somewhat, haha! But the movies that year were amazing, varied, and had dept to them. The Sixth Sense was amazing and still is in my eyes. Television was still awesome. Looking back, it was an awesome year, but I had such a deep hate for the mainstream music back then, it made me biased against 1999. Music quality was headed south, in my opinion, adult contemporary wasn't popular anymore. My personal life was awesome. I deeply regret not enjoying 1999 more back then.

2005 to 2007 more. - Unfortunately, these years were when my mental health had issues. But looking back, these years were fun and careless as hell. I'm talking about my personal life, of course.

I'll post more, if I think of anything more.

late 2005- mid 2008 I only actually became nostalgic about these years very recently which is unusual for me as I generally become nostalgic for times quite quickly. But I miss my friends and the simplicity of life from these years even though life felt very hard at the time as I was getting bullied

2014- (Ultimate year I look back on fondly that I didnt appreciate at the time)I was very sad and very tired during this year as I was leaving my secoundary school behind and was entering college which was sad for me. But looking back it was a cracker of a year! I made loads of new friends and started partying for the first time and moved to the city for college! Also the summer was probably one of the best I had even though I probably didn't feel that way at the time

2011

In 2011, I was in middle school (6th grade and then 7th grade) and I didn't appreciate those years back then because middle school mostly sucked for me. However, I wish I appreciated it more because the times were good, music was alright and Obama was still the relatively new Prez on the block  :\'(.

2003 - It was the year I graduated high school. I had so many good times with my friends. For the most part the year was perfect. Except for a couple of things. And I let those things drag me down and ruin what I thought of the whole year. But looking back, it was one of the best years of my life. Most definitely the May to August part. Cause that summer was so amazing.

2014 – One of my exams was delayed to January because there was an ice storm on the exam date in December, so that was an annoying start to the year. My grandma passed away a few weeks later, who was like a second mother to me. My then 8 year old little sister was in and out of the hospital the entire year (she was diagnosed with lymphoma the previous year). I was back in school and it was difficult for me to adjust full time, taking care of a child with disabilities and going to school at the same time. I also lost my scholarships and had to quit my job the previous year, so there were some financial worries in paying for school. Needless to say, I did terrible in school that year, I took on way more than I could handle. I had a strained relationship with some of my friends; in retrospect, I acted very needy and they were very busy, but I felt very lonely. Politics and international events that year were horsesh*t, I could write an entire essay but I won't.

But there were so many positive highlights in the year, the 2014 Olympics and 2014 World Cup in the summer were some of the most fun sports events I ever watched. I started volunteering at more school clubs and met some of the most interesting people I'll ever meet (I even started my own!). The music that year was also just plain fun, I love the music with brass instruments like All About That Bass, Happy, Shake It Off, Uptown Funk, Problem, Bang Bang etc. It's my favourite year of all time for movies. Interstellar, Guardians of the Galaxy, Boyhood etc. Summer 2014 was just fun all around. My friends got 3DSes and Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. 3DS came out, so I was spending a lot more time with them, and that really cheered me up. I also discovered the Quantified Self movement which turned me into a productivity machine. Also set the stage for me to getting into programming and getting me the job I have today. Hurray 2014!  :D


Late 2001 to early 2003 – I had a teacher which gave me a lot of homework. 1 hour+ a day which is a lot for 8-10 year old. My parents sent me to a tutor to to help me get ahead, so that was another two hours out of the day. I also had to go to a language school on the weekends to learn my mother tongues. I also had to learn piano. Basically, all work and no play made Slowpoke a dull boy! I hated my daily grind, I remember being a very sad kid. But now I look back on it with childhood fondness, and look back to sleepovers and playing outside with my friends. :)

2004 and 2005. But 2004 was more amazing now that I'm old enough to analyze the year. The vibe was as noticeably, fun and fresh as 2002. I really miss the PM hours of that year.

Night time isn't fun to me anymore.

2014.

I look back on it fondly now because in hindsight it was a year of many things for me, healing.... my family was finally coming back together after 3 hard years. I started high school, finally kind of started really growing up. I was coming of age and that year helped. We only went on vacation one time that year, to Houghton Lake Michigan and that was an enjoyable time because it was just us and my mom and kind of strengthened all of our relationship. I should have cherished the time a little more than I did.

1984 - I slated it at first because the personal problems I was having in 1983 continued into 1984. But they weren't as bad as that in retrospect and 1984 was certainly preferable to 1985, the worst year of my life.

I distinctly remember despising a lot of 2005 as a tween, but in retrospect, not only did Dance Dance Revolution bring so much sunshine to my world, there actually was a lot to appreciate about the media of the time; I had just been focusing in the wrong areas, i.e., the rise of snap. The technology of 2005 had a great overall balance. There were still negatives in 2005, but the positives shine through a lot more today than they did initially.

Culturally, I would say 2005. I hated a bunch of the music and pop culture in general that was popular that year at the time, but now that more than a decade has passed, I'm starting to look back at the culture of 2005 with some nostalgia. Particularly because of the fact that my favorite genre of music (Rock) was still fairly dominant in the mainstream at the time.

Overall I would say 2009. That was a really rough year for me because I graduated college at the height of the Great Recession (unemployment was at over 10%) and had zero luck finding a job. It's was quite disheartening to have gone to college for four years, only to suddenly begin to wonder if I'd wasted my time because of the terrible job market that showed no signs of recovery. I've started looking back at 2009 more fondly as of late, though. The Lady Gaga type Pop stuff that was popular at that time still isn't my cup of tea, but I did have some good times with friends and family that year and, now that 8 years have passed, I've started generally seeing that year in a more favorable light.

I'd say 2002 and 2003. I found them a bit stressful because physically I was developing earlier than my friends and I felt self-conscious most of the time. But I liked the music of those years, and the way that technology was fairly modern but not life-dominating yet.

2014:
I was 12-years-old this year, however, I wasn't the happiest. I had a grandfather who passed away September that year, and I was solely in middle school and I was going through puberty. All I really did in the summer of 2014 was go on the Internet to play games and watch YouTube videos and listen to music. It was the most boring summer I've ever had so far. I didn't really do much that year.
Now that it's 2018 and I'm almost 16, 2014 is now just starting to feel distant, and when I listen to music, especially hip-hop, made that year, it does bring back some memories. I do kind of miss the way the game that I played back in 2014 used to be. It hasn't changed for the better.

Not years in particular, but I remember being in elementary school (1997 to 2004) and feeling impatient to graduate and finally start junior high (which looking back I know was overrated, because my junior high years were among the worst in my life). Now I have strong nostalgia for my elementary years. Some things I appreciate now are walking around the block to and from school with my cousin, watching Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon before and after school at my grandma's house, these Dinner Theatre shows my music teacher liked to put on every year, and getting my first computer in 2002 and browsing old-school Internet.  :D

I don't care much for music from 1999 to 2001. But I really liked my life from then, these days. I disliked 1999 to 2001, at the time, but I look back at it now and it was a great time in my life. I thought movies and TV were great during that era, but I still don't care for the music of that era.

2013 for personal life reasons. Work was hell, but looking back I had a good social life and fun with friends. It was also the year I went out and saw the most movies.

I hated the 2000s because of the mainstream music - I mostly listened to rock stuff on YT and basically fanmade content.

2012 - First half of 2013

I was in the middle of High School and I started to go out for first time with my friends, also I knew a lot of new things where in my childhood I couldn’t do. Those years were my peak of my teenage life

2015 - Early 2016

First year out of school, with a whole new world in front of me. Sadly, then things gets pretty harder

Good vibes for everyone in this 2018

2012 for some reason I'm more fond of these days as well, even though at the time I distinctly remember it as the worst year of my life! Particularly the second half. I guess there were still some visible good things about it even if my emotional state was not good.

2003 - This was the year I moved to Texas, I felt lonely and depressed a lot of the year since I didn't have many friends and I had to adjust to living in a new place. I spent most of this year watching Disney Channel and playing Gamecube, which I miss now, especially old Disney Channel when it was still good.

2007 - I miss emo/scene culture being at its peak, and that whole year just had a very sunshine type vibe to it.

2013 - The year I graduated high school. The end of my senior year was hell, I felt like I didn't belong in high school anymore and just couldn't wait to leave. Of course, I feel like if my attitude had been different, this probably would not have been as much of the case. I also miss the music of that year, the disco and new wave revival was amazing, which made everything have a very 70s-esque carefree vibe to it.

1995 and 1999.

I'm listening to a song that came out in late 2013 that I listened to a lot in 2014, and it's definitely nostalgic to me. 2014 really wasn't as bad in my personal life and even pop culture now that I think about it. My grandfather's passing in September and the boring summer that I had that year led me to not like 2014 until very recently.

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm already starting to miss 2014. It was the peak of vine, had very good memes, 6th grade was boring but at least it was less depressing and more chill than 8th grade.

2010, I'll say since while I didn't enjoy the pop-culture of the year it was the year where I felt like we arrived in a new era with Facebook in it's prime, Twitter exploding, smartphones becoming more modern with 4G lte and Youtube becoming more mainstream.

2008 for pop-culture since while it was the start of the dark ages for Nick and Cartoon Network and the economy I still look at pop-culture from 08 with nostalga with songs like Young Joc lookin boy, the crank dat parodies on youtube,Obama getting elected, the movie Handcock and with wwe (while turning pg) still had some memorable moments like Jeff Hardy beating Triple H for the wwe titile in late 08.

2014-2016, or my middle school years. I feel like I didn't appreciate them enough. I had the freedom and fun of being a teen but without the stress of high-school :P.

2010, I'll say since while I didn't enjoy the pop-culture of the year it was the year where I felt like we arrived in a new era with Facebook in it's prime, Twitter exploding, smartphones becoming more modern with 4G lte and Youtube becoming more mainstream.

2008 for pop-culture since while it was the start of the dark ages for Nick and Cartoon Network and the economy I still look at pop-culture from 08 with nostalga with songs like Young Joc lookin boy, the crank dat parodies on youtube,Obama getting elected, the movie Handcock and with wwe (while turning pg) still had some memorable moments like Jeff Hardy beating Triple H for the wwe titile in late 08.


2010 was the first year that I felt completely into Internet with the arrive of faster Internet mobile and touchscreen cellphones becoming mainstream

2015 when the year was over i started to dislike the year and 2018 will probably be next on my list.

Y2K era, 2002-2005 (middle school) was a happy time that I didn't appreciate while it was happening but miss dearly now.

1990 to 1992. It was a great time for music IMO and I threw myself into the music scene at the time, but I did not realize then that it would be the last of my really carefree time.

But I think the same can be said for anyone who is young and without responsibility, you don't know what you don't know. 

2005
2009
2011

... Actually, that's it.

1995

From about 1993/4 or so and onward, I appreciated my life. While things probably COULD have been better or worse, for the most part, I really liked my life. Some years were better than others, some worse, but from that point on, I have lived a REALLY good life that I wouldn't change too much about it.


Cat

1999.

I HATED the pop music back then. But, looking back the movies and TV of that era was GREAT and should have made up for it. I think the reason for my lack of enjoyment of 1999, was partly my severe depression. I never thought how it affected me until now. Looking back, mental health did get in the way of me enjoying 1999! Of course, being a little 10 year old kid, you just aren't that deep at that age, LMAO.

The economy was GREAT. It was such a sunny time to live in America. Then came the 2000 Stock Market Crash and 9/11!

I still hate the music from 1999, the mainstream music. But, the movies, economy, and TV were still good! Too bad I was too depressed to enjoy it back then. I don't know if I would 'kill' to have the economy of the US from 1999 back again, but I would love to have the US economy at that era again.

The early 2010s as a whole honestly. This was mainly because back then, I hated the times for rather shallow reasons. Music, redesigns of websites and logos, trashy TV shows like Honey Boo Boo and Fred: The Show, and other such things made me hate the era and wish I was back in the early-mid 00s (still my personal favorite era). I was completely unaware and uninterested in politics or the economy, so that didn't factor into my dislike of a time period.
But now, with all the stuff of Donald Trump and SJW culture and the alt-right and COVID-19 and demonetization and whatnot, and I've come to appreciate the early 2010s, and even like them. I see them as a simpler time when the world wasn't obsessed with politics and feminism and other such things. You could just post content and it wouldn't matter, it was a fun time. 2014 I would say is when things began to go downhill, what with Gamergate and the Fergueson unrests and ISIS and all that. Now, the early 2010s are the latest era I have any attachment for. I still don't care for the dubstep/teen pop stuff at all, nor will I ever like Honey Boo Boo or Jersey Shore or anything from that period I still don't like (same kinda applies to the late 00s too), but I actually don't mind it so much anymore. I acknowledge as a much more lighthearted and pure fun time, and I guess that's why I like the early 2010s now.

2008.
Sometimes I wonder if stuff I thought I remembered from 2007, was actually stuff I remembered from 2008.