What Was the Last One? | Serap Çelikli

I came across a question.

It seemed very simple. It consisted of five short questions. What was the last…

…film you watched?

…album you listened to?

…book you read?

…exhibition you visited?

…city you explored?

Five questions.

That was all.

Sometimes we think we have to make major decisions to change our lives. We should make a fresh start, find ourselves, discover our purpose, be more disciplined, be more successful, work harder… Then we begin asking ourselves questions. Why me? Why did this happen? Why did I not succeed? Where did I go wrong? Why am I standing still while everyone else moves forward? When we dwell in these questions for too long, we start, without noticing, to see ourselves only through our shortcomings. What could we not do, what did we miss, where did we fall behind?

Yet sometimes we need another question. Much smaller, much simpler, but strangely much more transformative.

What was the last one?

Because when you ask this question, you are not calling yourself to account. You are looking at your life. You think about the last film you watched. Perhaps its title comes to mind, perhaps a scene, perhaps a feeling you had when you left the cinema. Then you realise you have not been to the cinema in a long time. And perhaps, almost without noticing, you start looking at the new releases.

You think about the last album you listened to. A song comes to mind. Perhaps you have been listening to the same song for days. Perhaps you have not discovered new music in a long time. A few minutes later, you find yourself looking at new albums.

You think about the last book you read. Its title comes to mind. Then perhaps you walk into a bookshop. As you wander among the shelves, you pick up a book you had never thought of. You think about the last exhibition you visited. Perhaps you realise you have not been to one in a long time. Just then, you come across an exhibition poster, or a friend invites you to one. You think about the last city you explored. You open a map. You look at somewhere you have never been. A route begins to appear. Perhaps an idea for a journey, perhaps just a small weekend escape.

That is when you realise this is not really a memory game. While it seems to ask about your past, it is gently touching your future.

Because whatever we ask ourselves, we begin to turn some of our attention towards it. Ask, ‘What was the last film I watched?’ and you look for a new film. Ask, ‘What was the last exhibition I visited?’ and you follow a new exhibition. Ask, ‘What was the last book I read?’ and you choose a new book. Ask, ‘What was the last city I explored?’ and you look at places you have not visited. You do not change your life all at once. You do not wake up one morning as a completely different person. A small movement simply begins.

Perhaps some questions exist not to pick apart the past, but to set the future in motion.

‘Why did it not happen?’ looks to the past.

‘When will it happen?’ looks to the future.

But ‘When was the last time?’ brings you back to today. And within today, it starts a small movement. A book, a ticket, an exhibition, a concert, a journey, a photograph, a coffee, a conversation, a curiosity…

Then you find that your life has quietly begun to expand. You have met more people, seen more places, learned more things, discovered more. Perhaps you have created more, laughed more, felt more excitement.

But most importantly, you have lived more.

I felt very good when I played this game. Because none of the questions made me call myself to account. I was not judging myself. I was not wondering why I had failed to do things. I was not counting my shortcomings. I was simply trying to remember what had most recently happened in my life.

And perhaps that is precisely why it felt good.

Because sometimes what we need is not to fix ourselves, but to bring ourselves back into life.

Into a film, a book, an exhibition, a city, music, a journey, a person, a kindness, a dream…

That is why ‘What was the last one?’ is a much bigger question than we think.

Because your answer also offers clues to your next step. Perhaps you realise you have not been to the cinema in a long time. Perhaps you have not read a book for months. Perhaps you are curious about a city you have never seen. Perhaps you struggle to remember the last time you felt genuinely excited.

But the lovely thing is this: nothing ends when you find the answer.

On the contrary, a new question begins:

So, what comes next?

Perhaps a new film. Perhaps a new book. Perhaps a concert ticket. Perhaps an exhibition. Perhaps a city you have never visited. Perhaps something you have been putting off for a long time. Or perhaps simply a few hours you will set aside for yourself today.

What changes a life may not always be a major decision. Sometimes life begins to move again through a tiny question we ask ourselves.

So today, before you ask yourself ‘Why?’, try asking this just once:

What was the last one?

Serap Çelikli

1 August 2025 · Ankara

This is an original essay by Serap Çelikli.