If you’re not familiar with the phrase, “stomping grounds” refers not to a place where elderly people get trampled (don’t worry, Grandma), but the places where you grew up, or experienced years before. Often, the old stomping grounds (OSG) give you fond memories of the past, but there could also be complex feelings wrapped up in the places that made up your past.
Everyone’s OSGs are different, but some examples could be the shops and stores surrounding your high school – where you went with your friends to hang out after school. It could be the park where you snuck out to at night, and it could be the woods behind your old house that – while only a few acres big – felt like the largest, vastest forest in the world. Maybe it’s the old bars you stumbled to in your college days.
But what do your OSGs have to do with your significant other? You might not think about something like this when you partner with a matchmaker to find the love of your life… but stay tuned, you will see how it’s relevant!
Your OSGs are your memories – they’re a part of you, like your personality, your habits, or your quirks. They’re relevant because when you enter a partnership with someone, you enter a partnership with all of them! It’s probably not as evident as something like their smile or their hair, but it’s there.
Sharing your OSGs with your partner is a great way to help them understand who you are – and where you’ve come from. It could be as simple as taking a walk down memory lane and experiencing the funny memories of your childhood. Think of it as a fun date, where the experience is where you’ve been and how you got to where you are today.
Checking out the OSGs can help you reconnect with their past, or even confront something that you have never fully dealt with. Maybe there is a complicated memory wrapped up in one of those places, and you need to experience it with someone else so that you can unpack what all of it meant. Part of being in a relationship is experiencing everything – the good and the bad.
The same can be said about memories, and the OSGs are simply physical manifestations of those memories. Going to one of your OSGs, like, for example, the pond where you and your friends used to throw rocks in by your school, can help the other person with you get to know you better.
When you point out the bridge near where you fell in the pond fifteen years ago, it could help your partner understand why you are so afraid of slippery bridges. When you take them to the coffee shop where you wrote your first screenplay, your significant other may finally understand why you have such an affinity for oat milk lattes.
Ultimately, your OSGs are not about the place, but the memories held there – and sharing these memories are a great way to help you and your partner come together.
