2016 Look Back: More Than Just a Trend

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Last Updated on January 26, 2026 by The Smetz Files

Have you leaned into the social media trend of looking back at 2016 as you launch 2026? Read to see why this exercise was more than just a trend for me.

As I’ve scrolled social media I’ve admired from afar the trend of posting old photos from life as I knew it in 2016.

Admittedly, I thought, ‘eh, it’s not a big deal to me.’ But then I searched my saved photos for 2016 and took a walk down memory lane.

It turns out 2016 was more than just Instagram filters and a younger version of me.

What I Found

Ten years feels like yesterday and a million years ago simultaneously.

As I scrolled my pics from a decade ago, I saw my kids as babies and toddlers. And I was quickly ushered back to that feeling of life after Jay’s stroke.

2016 was a big year for our family.

There were so many life changes.

House reno.

Job changes.

Graduate school.

Raising toddlers.

Home renovation

Let me take a step back. In the fall of 2015 Jay suffered a series of strokes as we were negotiating the purchase of our dream home. Naturally, his hospitalization and subsequent recovery put home buying on hold.

As Jay’s recovery continued we made some big changes.

But we’d already sold our current home, so 2016 started with us crammed into a rental with a one and three year old, most of our belongings in storage, and life seemingly hanging int he balance.

Our dream home was no longer on the market. We moved to plan B and we purchased a nearly condemned house with the hopes of restoring it to a proper family home.

It took six months and every waking moment we had. But we restored it to a proper family home and it became the cornerstone of our five year plan.

Job changes

Jay and I have consistently worked on five year plans to help us map our next steps as a family. Part of Jay’s stroke recovery saw us revamp our plan and reprioritize our goals.

So, in 2016 I took a leap of faith and resigned my full time position as a curriculum coach at a local elementary school. It was a school I loved and spent my entire teaching career.

It was a bittersweet move, but we were ardent we wanted to explore new opportunities beyond living in our comfort zones. Enter the ultimate step of my comfort zone…

In pursuit of a PhD

…I resigned my full time position at school to re-enter graduate school full time in the fall of 2016.

If I had thought about it for too long, I probably would have lost the nerve, but pursing my PhD was a great experience. I immersed myself in full time university life.

Reading. Writing. Attending research conferences.

All the while I was taking courses, teaching courses, and still raising toddlers who quickly turned to preschoolers.

In retrospect I’m exhausted just thinking about it ten years later!

I guess energy is wasted on the youth!

Turning back time

While this social media trend of reposting your life from 2016 is a trend, I found it cathartic. It prompted me to take stock of how much life had changed in the decade since, beyond better technology, fashion faux pas, and less cringy selfies.

It’s all part of the story we’re writing.

Thanks for reading my simple musings.

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