What is Nostalgia?

What is nostalgia and why is it important?

Stop singing that song. I can’t stop hearing it in my head. Great, now I am going to be singing it all day long. Music can bring back strong memories. Some good. Some not so good. Music can make us feel strong emotions many times. Nostalgia and feeling emotions, or getting songs stuck in our heads, are all tied into who we are.

Nostalgia – “pleasure and sadness that is caused by remembering something from the past and wishing that you could experience it again”

Other definitions of Nostalgia from Merriam Webster are:

Remember your Past

Remembering your past, or who you used to be is important to look at many times. You are who you are, because of the time you grew up. Are you a 60’s, 80’s, or baby of today? Nostalgia is all about you and your memories. What do you remember from your past? Going back in time to review our identity, can help us see how much we have changed, have accomplished, or have wised up and when we officially became an “adult.”

Our identities are developed a lot as we age, and are based on who we hang around. Have you ever driven by your old childhood home? What nostalgic memories do you remember when you saw your old house? What feelings did you have?

There is a reason why certain photos are shared on Facebook, over other pictures. We can relate to their sayings or the photo of the old item we used to all use in the past. Nostalgia can be a time, place, item, or anything that brings back those warm fuzzy feelings. How do we get back to a state like that? How do we go back in time to reminisce about these things again?

Nostalgia helps us evaluate how far we have come in life. Nostalgia can be like meditation taking you back to the good old days. What insight could you gain about yourself as you look through your old report cards as you grew up in school? Where did you spend most of your time as a child? Who were some of the greatest influences in your life? How did they encourage you?

This is meant to be a reflective blog today. What are you doing today that you want to remember 10, 20, or 50 years from now? Nostalgia is an emotions that is tied to so many of our different senses. Nostalgia helps us not feel alone, because we all can feel like we belong when we relate to one another over a similar object or memory of the past.

Nostalgia is universal and can be experienced at any age. I feel nostalgia anytime I play old video games. When you receive a card in the mail from an old friend you have not talked to in years, nostalgia will arise. Every time I hear frogs croaking at night, it takes me back to my childhood when I would fall asleep to the sound of frogs in our pond. What a great memory. Nostalgia can be bittersweet. It can make us realize how fast our school years flew by, or how fast our kids grew up.

What makes you feel nostalgia? Comment below.

Making Milestone Moments Count,

– Marcie