You don’t need to be a Swiftie to know that the word “eras” is synonymous with Taylor Swift. When the superstar launched her unprecedented and wildly successful stadium concert series, she called it the Eras Tour. Each “era” represented a different album she made throughout an 18-year career in music. My 7-year-old could tell you the name of all 10 eras.

Regardless of what you think about Taylor Swift, she has introduced a unique way of thinking about eras.

But each era serves a greater purpose than just naming her albums and highlighting her musical diversity. Rather, each era expresses where Swift was in her life at that time—personally and emotionally. Ask a true Swiftie about any era and they will tell you who Taylor was dating, who she was feuding with, and the overall state of her life at the time.

Taylor Swift’s recent reliance on eras has created a major impact in everyday society. Because of her gigantic influence, whether you are a fan or not, an “era” is now a unit of time measurement used by many to chronicle different periods in their lives. For example…

Last night, Sidney and I presented at our monthly Engaged Encounter meeting. Although the central function of this ministry is to stage weekend-long retreats for engaged couples, those of us who do the presenting meet monthly as a group to socialize and offer marital enrichment. The topic of our presentation? You guessed it…marital eras.

Sidney and I presented “Eras (Marriage Version” last night.

Inspired by an article by Stephanie Calis, Sid and I used the Taylor Swift formula to divide our marriage into eras. We told the story of our 8-year marriage through five different periods of time. Some of these eras were joyful and some were challenging. While the topic was fun to present as it offered relevancy to our group as we try our best to resonate with a much younger demographic of engaged couples, it was also therapeutic. By looking back on our marriage and naming our different eras, my wife and I were able to better understand how each one helped us grow and prepared us for the current era we are in.

Sidney and I after our presentation on the eras of our marriage.

Going through this exercise also helped me realize that the “eras concept” can be applied far beyond album releases and marriages 😂. You can use eras to chronicle your life based on cars driven, pets owned, houses lived in, and much more.

You can also use eras to define your career. I can chop up my professional experience by employer (UM, CCU, WSU), decade, boss, and even office. By segmenting my career into eras I can get a better understanding of my professional growth and the journey that has led me to where I am today.

So what about you? How can you use “eras” to tell the story of your life experience? I don’t share the Taylor Swift fandom that my wife and daughter embrace, but I can appreciate the usefulness of eras. Don’t Blink.