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Why am I so nostalgic? Why do I always long for my younger years even though those times were not always good...I long for the ages between 12-16sh. Is it solely for the fact that it is impossible to go back to that time, and I just want the impossible? I really have no certain regrets. I believe this started in my mid 20s, and I am 32 now. I just cant seem to pin point one reason...Its not the typical, "if I only knew what I know now deal", and like I said I don't have any real regrets...I just don't know, and even a counselor has been perplexed...Any thoughts?
It's a time where one's "cement is wet", so to speak-one's tastes & preferences are being crystallized.
It's a time of trying on identities/roles to see which direction one's wants & desires lead in.
Nostalgia can happen for any stage/phase/time of one's past, be it for yesteryear or for yesterday.
I too am strongly nostalgic, and find myself looking for things that were in my youth. Not that I had a great youth either - more that our society seemed different, people seemed different, and I was full of the optimism of youth. I could accomplish whatever I wanted.
As we all find out as we age, we were lied to a lot as children.
Regardless, I did receive a very good definition of nostalgia from someone on a different web board (sports related). In their paraphrasing, "We are nostalgic as we remember a beauty in the past that we don't see in the world today". This statement is pretty accurate IMHO. It can also make one nostalgic for a time when they never lived, like the 50's.
We do also know that humans do tend to romanticise the past too.
I am very nostalgic regarding my childhood. Times were so much happier and it seemed that everyone else was happier as well. I would say from age 5-20 were the best times. I'm 28 now.
1. Halloween and trick-or-treating. My favorite holiday and living in a small town made it that much more fun. You didn't have to get in the car to drive around. Haunted trails and houses. Now that a lot of the kids have grown up in the neighborhood, we get maybe 2 trick or treaters a year. It's sad.
2. Christmas parties. My parents would throw a Christmas eve party every year and a bunch of the family would attend. Us kids would play outside, adults would play cards, play karaoke, etc. Haven't had a Christmas party in almost 10 years.
3. Skating Rink on Friday and Saturday nights.
4. Even though we had video games back in the 80s and 90s, we still played outside a lot. Fishing, basketball, wrestling on the trampoline(lucky no one ever got hurt), camping, riding go-carts etc.
I recently found the videos my mom recorded at parties and events back when I was young but I can't bare to watch them. I feel like I would break down since my mom passed last year. It's hard to get excited about anything anymore it seems like. So much easier back then.
^^^ The day to day grind is such a main trigger for being nostalgic. As I said in another thread on this forum, when one realizes how much responsibility one has as an adult (from paying bills, to laundry, to making your bed), it is easy to look back at one's carefree youth and yearn wistfully for it.
And straight up, it wasn't that everyone seemed happier. In most cases, they actually were happier. Kids are happier due to a lack of responsibility. People's folks and family were happier, as they were still younger (or still alive, or still married), still on the right side of middle age, a place where many people's dreams die an ignominious death.
As we age, life enriches us, yet also takes a toll (physically and mentally). This applies to everyone.
Sorry to hear about your Mom passing away. When you're ready to watch the videos, you will. It is part of the grieving and healing process.
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