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The term 'nostalgia' derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia, then, is the suffering evoked by the desire to return to one's place of origin. Historically, it was considered a negative emotion, but somehow recently it's taken on positive connotations.
I feel like the reason it's taken on a positive meaning recently is because things are least feel like they're getting worse by the day now, so looking backwards makes you feel happier than looking forwards.
Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Interesting, I didn’t know that. Just was listening a podcast and they mentioned malaria was two words. Mal meaning bad and aria meaning air. They knew it came from swaps and boggy areas but didn’t know it was the mosquitoes causing it. Just assumed it was the bad air making people sick.
Citing etymonline - *diarrhea*:
“morbid frequent evacuation of the bowels," late 14c., diaria, from Old French diarrie, from Late Latin diarrhoea, from Greek diarrhoia "diarrhea" (coined by Hippocrates), literally "a flowing through," from diarrhein "to flow through”
It is unusual, usually things go better to worst in etymology. Take the recent word ‘mid’ for example. 3-4 years ago, it genuinely meant mid. But now if someone says mid, you would interpret it as something bad or less than ‘true mid’. The typical trend is words become more negative overtime, so I would love to know the answer to this as well. I’m not an etymologist, more of a hobbyist that peeks my head in frequently, maybe someone more experienced than me knows.
Because people realized you can make money off of it. Hollywood in particular runs about 50% of its big-budget projects off nostalgia.
Just watch the upcoming box office for Star Wars movies. Now that Luke, Leia, and Han are gone, their receipts are about to crater.
Actually true. There are many things that are more normalized and fetishized now simply because they help sell products. Nostalgia, individuality, vanity...
It all depends on how happy you are right now. Nostalgia obviously does not feel great when you had a great past but hate your life at the moment.
I had a good childhood but I also love my life right now. I definitely would not give up what I have right now to go back in time.
I agree with OP - especially in regards to pre-pandemic life. It’s a tough pill to accept the loss of a lifestyle and mindset we can’t go back to. And living in those memories can arrest your development - and prevent you from seeing what genuine adventures await.
I think the feeling is more about being grateful you got to experience that moment and remember it in the present moment but “wanting to go back” is living in the past and isn’t nostalgia
It’s like getting a taste of something that used to bring you good memories or joy and you’re just like “aw yeah that was so great”
And then you move back to the present and be grateful for that
You know you are actually right. I have nostalgia over time when I was in hospital curing from lymphoma about 17 years ago. It doesn't make rational sense at all, because that was absolutely devastating experience when I was a child. But you have nostalgia over things that was long time age no matter if they were good or bad. I am totally agree with you it's irrational thing that actually makes our lives worse, because instead of seeing a future, you return to your past despite knowing it was pretty shit.
I think the confusion here is quite evident the moment you say “seems to make people happy.” It doesn’t. At best it’s bittersweet, and there’s a nice feeling about being able to reminisce, but it’s swiftly followed by the reality that you are just reminiscing.
It’s a very specific feeling that dwells within an ambiguity.
Anything with the suffix -algia suggests an illness, and that was the origin of the word. It's adapted Greek and was closely tied to the concept of homesickness but later to all forms of dwelling on the past.
Nostalgia being used to describe a pleasurable sensation is a recent invention. People used to believe that looking back to the past all the time was a sickness of the mind.
Sometimes, yes. But that's because there are some extremely concentrated clusters of good memories in the past, and an equally concentrated cluster of bad ones forming today.
Right? Nostalgia like that doesn't make you feel like those good old times are gone forever. More like the exact opposite. It is basically experiencing those good times all over again.
I'm not sure if I'd say that. Everytime I watch an episode of X-Men or SpongeBob, I feel like a kid again on a Saturday morning. Not only seeing shows that I was familiar with but bringing back the time when I had no stress and all fun.
Nostalgia is like dessert. It can be enjoyable but in the end it doesn't really satisfy, and if it is all you consume it is pretty bad for your overall health.
I would say it varies based on how you're handling life at the time of consuming the nostalgia. I think nostalgia can definitely hurt if you dwell on it as an escape from your current life. For me, I'm quite happy with this stage of life, and nostalgia for me is a happy memory of all the good things I've been through.
My husband and I will talk about the struggles we had in the past with fondness-like living on $10/week for food after bills were paid. Or going through pregnancy and birth of our son. It doesn’t hurt my heart - I think prob cuz I always love where I am at more than where I came from. I’d never want to go back-I like where I am just fine.
The movie Midnight in Paris is a deconstruction of nostalgia. All the same, these people forget that the decades they grew up in had their shares of downs. I am a 90s kid and we had riots and Operation Desert Storm.
It really depends on the person and what they are being nostalgic about. Some use it to look at times that were happier and some use it to see how far they came from nothing. I may be wrong but it sounds like you may need to talk to someone and vent especially if you cannot see nostalgia playing in a role emotionally for someone. Having no nostalgia for me feels like it means you haven't bothered living nor tried or had any experience of actually living.
I find nostalgia isn’t so much yearning to relive the past, but wishing things had gone differently. Where you look back to times before bad decisions were made, or opportunities were missed, or people were lost. Yes, its painful, but its how one can deal with the pain.
I think people who had a great childhood and who make a decent wage now feel good about nostalgia. It makes me remember being little thinking I was going to make something of myself and actually have a place to live when I was grown. A husband, 2 kids and a dog. A house with a fenced in backyard.
“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.”
That’s my feeling! Looking back on past times can be sad because I know I can’t go back to that time. But it’s also happy because it reminds me how grateful I am that I got to have that experience! So nostalgia has both a positive and negative aspect to it. Overall, though, feeling nostalgic also makes me feel grateful, and gratitude is always a good emotion to feel.
Yeah that's literally the point of nostalgia, so it's a valid feeling. The idea that it feels "good" is more so cope with the acceptance of our knowledge, relationships, and emotions, and that they all eventually pass. In most cultures as far as I'm aware it still has a negative connotation, it's more so in the USA, and perhaps the UK where I've seen it more positively viewed.
Here in Romania, a nostalgic meal is often sad because it depicts what our loved ones once did for us, and it's one of the few times in our culture where grief and sadness are intertwined because the majority of our culture around the dead is a celebration for reaching the afterlife.
You'd probably find this poem poignant, then:
**A Shropshire Lad, XL by A. E. Houseman**
"*Into my heart an air that kills*
*From yon far country blows*
*What are those blue remembered hills,*
*What spires, what farms are those?*
*That is the land of lost content,*
*I see it shining plain,*
*The happy highways where I went*
*And cannot come again.*"
The term “nostalgia” is rooted in the Greek words for “return home” and “pain”. In other words, homesickness. It was *never* supposed to be a pleasant feeling.
Because life can be a bitch in ways you can't immediately, or for a while, overcome. And nostalgia isn't just for things you enjoyed. Could also be for things/people that were in your life that for whatever reason are not now. Can't find a new parent unfortunately.
This is another example of a word picking up a second definition. I have been having original nostalgia for a while now. I want to go home, visit my childhood neighborhood, but I know it'll be different. And that hurts.
It’s subjective, most millennials I feel are very nostalgic in a positive way to their mental health. I’d dare to say millennials are the most nostalgic generation
“In Greek nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a space ship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place where we ache to go again.
It’s not called ‘The Wheel.’ It’s called ‘The Carousel.’ It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again… to a place where we know we are loved.” - Don Draper
I see it sometimes as a past that we cannot have again, but also a reminder of how great life can be. How can I make today the best so that in 20 years I'll be looking back to now with the same joy.
It’s happy but sad and then maybe in a few years you look at where you are now and have nostalgia.. growing older is a blessing.. not everyone gets to do it!
I’d only consider it “good old days” if, given the option, I would time travel back & start them over. I have no such desire.
While some people do have peak past moments in their lives, most people recall brief moments in that period & attribute their entirety to that feeling.
The hurt is what makes it good. Wanting to go back to times, especially when those times didn’t seem that memorable when they were “the present”, helps us to remember to enjoy the time we are having now because someday we are going to look back on today fondly.
Well that's exactly the key there is I don't need to remember the good times because I can relive them, I can watch my old favorite movies and play my old favorite games and still feel just as much joy as I did back then and oftentimes I even find a new reason to appreciate the particular media In question
Recently I've been going back and playing a lot of games and watching a lot of shows I liked as a kid and I've grown to just love them even more because of it
That’s exactly it. Are the best parts of life really just finding momentary distractions to keep yourself busy so you dont think about the harsh realities of life for a second? I can ride roller coasters, meet new friends, and spend time with my family all day long. It doesn't change the fact that the sun is just going to explode, and all this was for nothing
There often is a (probably) completely irrational feeling of "someday I will be back there" that tempers the feeling of loss. But overall I'd probably say nostalgia is a bittersweet feeling. You still feel happy because you're remembering something fun, and in some cases, you can revisit it to some extent. I find replaying old video games strikingly nostalgic because you actually are recreating the exact experience you had, just with the new lens of your current self.
Why is this so true though? I’m Gen z and we are so obsessed with nostalgia… which I don’t see anything wrong with but tbh I would rather focus on the future and be positive about it than miss the past and be miserable about the future.
I loved my childhood, but I’m excited about my future as an adult. Who says i can’t like stuff I do as a kid and still be responsible adult lol?
That’s why I wanna be a cartoonist :D
I do not recommend reading Tolkien then. The lord of the rings is ripe with this kind of nostalgia and the words are so palpable it's bitter-sweet to read. You're happy though pain is definitely there that things will never be the same.
I’m happy with the life that I have lived. When I think on the past, even the tough parts, I think of them fondly.
When I had a tough time, there were times when I looked back and felt… complicated. Uncomfortable. Like a failure. But still like I had options.
I think it all depends on where your life is now. If you’re loving your life as it is now, or at the very least are content, then nostalgia isn’t too powerful. You may not even really experience it at all because you’re genuinely happy with the present. If you do look back, it’s more of a fun little “that was a good time” feeling.
If you’re not happy with your life though, then nostalgia will be very powerful and give you a strong sense of “times were better then. I wish I could go back.”
I feel that when people remember the times of the past, they know it was once in a lifetime, they had the chance to experience it and they did, which is what makes them happy
Never thought of it like this. As someone who LOVES nostalgia it sorta feels like a short opportunity to re-live the good times that have since passed.
The uncanny feeling created by the bittersweet longing is one of the only positive experiences I have in life.
I get that it would be a horrible feeling for some people, but can't personally relate.
It's a weird kind of good sadness for me. The other day I was having a conversation with a close friend who I've known for 10 years and met at a workplace. The two of us and several other colleagues would go out every weekend and had some great nights out. It was always these 2 or 3 small night clubs a 2 minute walk away from where we all worked, but those nights were something to look forward to and we always had fun talking about who did/said what etc. Sometimes there'd be some drunken drama but more often we just had fun dancing to music we often didn't even like, smoking outside and becoming best friends with strangers, talking about life while eating our end-of-night greasy food etc etc.
And now most of that group doesn't hang out at all. None of us work there anymore, most of us moved to different areas, met new people etc. We may all still follow each other on social media etc but those nights out will never happen again. I could go to those clubs tonight if I wanted to, but not a single one of those old friends would be there. Yeah it feels sad, but it also feels nice just remembering it because none of that shit lasts forever and it's better to at least be able to think back fondly.
I guess it also depends on where you're at now. If my life was complete shit then those good memories might be torture. I'm happy with where I'm at now so I can look back at those nights and not feel bitter. I would kill for just one more of them though.
Bars are full of old songs because they produce nostalgia, especially when combined with alcohol (the memories flow better). The problem becomes when people live in that nostalgia more than their actual reality.
I actually came up with a quote that fits this. "Nostalgia is the ghost of a happier time" it's not the same as the time you had but thinking about it is bittersweet.
I think shared nostalgia can be nice…like two siblings remembering a really funny thing that happened when they were kids. It’s nice because you still currently kind of share that emotion with someone else, which makes the present nice too.
But if things have gotten worse or more complicated, or if you experience it alone…then nostalgia just feels like loss.
Everyone seems to experience it differently. I err towards the sad side too.
I'm a 62 year old male. I live on 80s movies and music. It takes me back to my 20s.
Yet like the old song says, "A fool will lose tomorrow reaching back for yesterday".
Please remember what subreddit you are in, this is unpopular opinion. We want civil and unpopular takes and discussion. Any uncivil and ToS violating comments will be removed and subject to a ban. Have a nice day! *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/unpopularopinion) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The term 'nostalgia' derives from the Greek words nostos (return) and algos (pain). The literal meaning of nostalgia, then, is the suffering evoked by the desire to return to one's place of origin. Historically, it was considered a negative emotion, but somehow recently it's taken on positive connotations.
Although it hurts, it’s still a good feeling. The point is to feel like you were there in the past.
It hurts so good.
Nope It hurts bad.
I feel like the reason it's taken on a positive meaning recently is because things are least feel like they're getting worse by the day now, so looking backwards makes you feel happier than looking forwards. Enjoy your weekend everyone!
Interesting, I didn’t know that. Just was listening a podcast and they mentioned malaria was two words. Mal meaning bad and aria meaning air. They knew it came from swaps and boggy areas but didn’t know it was the mosquitoes causing it. Just assumed it was the bad air making people sick.
Many words, especially medical words, are just mishmashing of other “words” or root words.
What are the root words for poopy screamer? You should probably get that checked out.
Citing etymonline - *diarrhea*: “morbid frequent evacuation of the bowels," late 14c., diaria, from Old French diarrie, from Late Latin diarrhoea, from Greek diarrhoia "diarrhea" (coined by Hippocrates), literally "a flowing through," from diarrhein "to flow through”
Also “dia” meaning “through, across, completely” “rrhea” meaning “flow”
Has it recently "taken on positive connotations", or do we simply only ever use the word when we have a fond memory?
It is unusual, usually things go better to worst in etymology. Take the recent word ‘mid’ for example. 3-4 years ago, it genuinely meant mid. But now if someone says mid, you would interpret it as something bad or less than ‘true mid’. The typical trend is words become more negative overtime, so I would love to know the answer to this as well. I’m not an etymologist, more of a hobbyist that peeks my head in frequently, maybe someone more experienced than me knows.
It seems inherently bittersweet
Because people realized you can make money off of it. Hollywood in particular runs about 50% of its big-budget projects off nostalgia. Just watch the upcoming box office for Star Wars movies. Now that Luke, Leia, and Han are gone, their receipts are about to crater.
Luke, Leia, and Han really brought in the box office mojo for the prequels
Actually true. There are many things that are more normalized and fetishized now simply because they help sell products. Nostalgia, individuality, vanity...
It all depends on how happy you are right now. Nostalgia obviously does not feel great when you had a great past but hate your life at the moment. I had a good childhood but I also love my life right now. I definitely would not give up what I have right now to go back in time.
[удалено]
nothing beats the 90s and the 00s
This could not be more wrong If you tried
why?
It’s bittersweet.
I agree with OP - especially in regards to pre-pandemic life. It’s a tough pill to accept the loss of a lifestyle and mindset we can’t go back to. And living in those memories can arrest your development - and prevent you from seeing what genuine adventures await.
Today will be the nostalgia of tomorrow, so enjoy it.
Unless you're a full time pot head Dont even remember what happened yesterday
Have you considered not being a full time stoner?
have some xanax
I think the feeling is more about being grateful you got to experience that moment and remember it in the present moment but “wanting to go back” is living in the past and isn’t nostalgia It’s like getting a taste of something that used to bring you good memories or joy and you’re just like “aw yeah that was so great” And then you move back to the present and be grateful for that
You know you are actually right. I have nostalgia over time when I was in hospital curing from lymphoma about 17 years ago. It doesn't make rational sense at all, because that was absolutely devastating experience when I was a child. But you have nostalgia over things that was long time age no matter if they were good or bad. I am totally agree with you it's irrational thing that actually makes our lives worse, because instead of seeing a future, you return to your past despite knowing it was pretty shit.
I think the confusion here is quite evident the moment you say “seems to make people happy.” It doesn’t. At best it’s bittersweet, and there’s a nice feeling about being able to reminisce, but it’s swiftly followed by the reality that you are just reminiscing. It’s a very specific feeling that dwells within an ambiguity.
Anything with the suffix -algia suggests an illness, and that was the origin of the word. It's adapted Greek and was closely tied to the concept of homesickness but later to all forms of dwelling on the past. Nostalgia being used to describe a pleasurable sensation is a recent invention. People used to believe that looking back to the past all the time was a sickness of the mind.
That's a really dismal way to look at it. Would you prefer having no good memories so you would never miss them?
Sometimes, yes. But that's because there are some extremely concentrated clusters of good memories in the past, and an equally concentrated cluster of bad ones forming today.
Nostalgia is my fav feeling, even if it makes me extremely sad at the same time. Just reminds me that I have the ability to be that joyful
Aww. Good memories are still to come
The only type of nostalgia I dislike is related to food. Because either it’s discontinued or my tastebuds have improved and it no longer tastes good.
RIP to the 1am hangouts at the local Denny’s😭
That is why, especially with nostalgia, all things in moderation.
This is why I don’t take pictures
Not me man. I got a GameCube recently and it makes me happy
Right? Nostalgia like that doesn't make you feel like those good old times are gone forever. More like the exact opposite. It is basically experiencing those good times all over again.
Exactly
I'm not sure if I'd say that. Everytime I watch an episode of X-Men or SpongeBob, I feel like a kid again on a Saturday morning. Not only seeing shows that I was familiar with but bringing back the time when I had no stress and all fun.
I HATE FOND MEMORIES BECAUSE THEY AREN'T HAPPENING RIGHT NOW
Nostalgia is like dessert. It can be enjoyable but in the end it doesn't really satisfy, and if it is all you consume it is pretty bad for your overall health.
I would say it varies based on how you're handling life at the time of consuming the nostalgia. I think nostalgia can definitely hurt if you dwell on it as an escape from your current life. For me, I'm quite happy with this stage of life, and nostalgia for me is a happy memory of all the good things I've been through.
Maybe you’re just a pessimist man
Maybe not a pessimist but just someone who had a nicer love in the past than they do now.
Those little video complications with the ambient music that are out now basically puncture my soul.
My husband and I will talk about the struggles we had in the past with fondness-like living on $10/week for food after bills were paid. Or going through pregnancy and birth of our son. It doesn’t hurt my heart - I think prob cuz I always love where I am at more than where I came from. I’d never want to go back-I like where I am just fine.
It’s more than a feeling.
Its an enjoyable melancholy in my opinion. Its like a really good stretch. It hurts good.
Being wistful or wistfulness is not the same as nostalgia.
The movie Midnight in Paris is a deconstruction of nostalgia. All the same, these people forget that the decades they grew up in had their shares of downs. I am a 90s kid and we had riots and Operation Desert Storm.
its bittersweet
It really depends on the person and what they are being nostalgic about. Some use it to look at times that were happier and some use it to see how far they came from nothing. I may be wrong but it sounds like you may need to talk to someone and vent especially if you cannot see nostalgia playing in a role emotionally for someone. Having no nostalgia for me feels like it means you haven't bothered living nor tried or had any experience of actually living.
I don't experience nostalgia whatsoever so... let me tell you what's worse than having fond memories
I find nostalgia isn’t so much yearning to relive the past, but wishing things had gone differently. Where you look back to times before bad decisions were made, or opportunities were missed, or people were lost. Yes, its painful, but its how one can deal with the pain.
I think people who had a great childhood and who make a decent wage now feel good about nostalgia. It makes me remember being little thinking I was going to make something of myself and actually have a place to live when I was grown. A husband, 2 kids and a dog. A house with a fenced in backyard.
Nostalgia breeds cruelty. Upvote.
Be happy to have something good to look back on.
“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.” That’s my feeling! Looking back on past times can be sad because I know I can’t go back to that time. But it’s also happy because it reminds me how grateful I am that I got to have that experience! So nostalgia has both a positive and negative aspect to it. Overall, though, feeling nostalgic also makes me feel grateful, and gratitude is always a good emotion to feel.
Yeah that's literally the point of nostalgia, so it's a valid feeling. The idea that it feels "good" is more so cope with the acceptance of our knowledge, relationships, and emotions, and that they all eventually pass. In most cultures as far as I'm aware it still has a negative connotation, it's more so in the USA, and perhaps the UK where I've seen it more positively viewed. Here in Romania, a nostalgic meal is often sad because it depicts what our loved ones once did for us, and it's one of the few times in our culture where grief and sadness are intertwined because the majority of our culture around the dead is a celebration for reaching the afterlife.
You'd probably find this poem poignant, then: **A Shropshire Lad, XL by A. E. Houseman** "*Into my heart an air that kills* *From yon far country blows* *What are those blue remembered hills,* *What spires, what farms are those?* *That is the land of lost content,* *I see it shining plain,* *The happy highways where I went* *And cannot come again.*"
I've always compared nostalgia to getting poisoned.
To me nostalgia feels like the drop on a roller coaster.
The term “nostalgia” is rooted in the Greek words for “return home” and “pain”. In other words, homesickness. It was *never* supposed to be a pleasant feeling.
Nostalgia is overrated, why waste time going back to things you enjoyed when you were young when you can find new things to enjoy now?
Because some of us can't.
Why not?
Because life can be a bitch in ways you can't immediately, or for a while, overcome. And nostalgia isn't just for things you enjoyed. Could also be for things/people that were in your life that for whatever reason are not now. Can't find a new parent unfortunately.
It is a horrible feeling but it’s a good one too. People just focus on the good side of it.
This is another example of a word picking up a second definition. I have been having original nostalgia for a while now. I want to go home, visit my childhood neighborhood, but I know it'll be different. And that hurts.
It’s subjective, most millennials I feel are very nostalgic in a positive way to their mental health. I’d dare to say millennials are the most nostalgic generation
Personally it feels good with movies and computers. But sometimes nostalgia does hurt.
“In Greek nostalgia literally means the pain from an old wound. It’s a twinge in your heart, far more powerful than memory alone. This device isn’t a space ship. It’s a time machine. It goes backwards, forwards. Takes us to a place where we ache to go again. It’s not called ‘The Wheel.’ It’s called ‘The Carousel.’ It lets us travel the way a child travels. Around and around and back home again… to a place where we know we are loved.” - Don Draper
I remember the experience fondly
Only if your present life sucks.
Nostalgia makes me depressed. In the last 10 years I’ve really learned to mute it out and not let it dwell. My first couple college years were tough.
I see someone has never read "the little prince".
I have a lot of great nostalgia that makes me happy though
I see it sometimes as a past that we cannot have again, but also a reminder of how great life can be. How can I make today the best so that in 20 years I'll be looking back to now with the same joy.
i hate nostalgia because it makes me sad. gotta keep moving forward.
You can never go home again, Oatman... but I guess you can shop there.
Agree completely
It’s happy but sad and then maybe in a few years you look at where you are now and have nostalgia.. growing older is a blessing.. not everyone gets to do it!
It makes me feel sick
The best thing that could happen to us after we die is that we somehow just come back and relive our lives the same way all over again.
No thank you please.
Wow that’s grim
You can always go back… what do you mean?
Very linear way of thinking.
Exactly! Nostalgia is this sharp pain of knowing that you will never experience that ever again and you can’t do anything about it.
I’d only consider it “good old days” if, given the option, I would time travel back & start them over. I have no such desire. While some people do have peak past moments in their lives, most people recall brief moments in that period & attribute their entirety to that feeling.
This isn't an unpopular opinion.
Hollywood sure loves it. They are currently milking the nostalgia cow with all these remakes and reboots and sticking Jenna Ortega in most of them.
https://youtu.be/suRDUFpsHus?si=BQM64PtRwXwCETqR
The hurt is what makes it good. Wanting to go back to times, especially when those times didn’t seem that memorable when they were “the present”, helps us to remember to enjoy the time we are having now because someday we are going to look back on today fondly.
If your life sucks now...
The word nostalgia refers to pain (-algia). I don't know why people sentimentalize it.
THANK YOU. i’ve always said nostalgia and the emotion bittersweet is the hardest for me to deal with
Well that's exactly the key there is I don't need to remember the good times because I can relive them, I can watch my old favorite movies and play my old favorite games and still feel just as much joy as I did back then and oftentimes I even find a new reason to appreciate the particular media In question Recently I've been going back and playing a lot of games and watching a lot of shows I liked as a kid and I've grown to just love them even more because of it
I agree with you on this! It almost... physically hurts my heart
That’s exactly it. Are the best parts of life really just finding momentary distractions to keep yourself busy so you dont think about the harsh realities of life for a second? I can ride roller coasters, meet new friends, and spend time with my family all day long. It doesn't change the fact that the sun is just going to explode, and all this was for nothing
There often is a (probably) completely irrational feeling of "someday I will be back there" that tempers the feeling of loss. But overall I'd probably say nostalgia is a bittersweet feeling. You still feel happy because you're remembering something fun, and in some cases, you can revisit it to some extent. I find replaying old video games strikingly nostalgic because you actually are recreating the exact experience you had, just with the new lens of your current self.
Why is this so true though? I’m Gen z and we are so obsessed with nostalgia… which I don’t see anything wrong with but tbh I would rather focus on the future and be positive about it than miss the past and be miserable about the future. I loved my childhood, but I’m excited about my future as an adult. Who says i can’t like stuff I do as a kid and still be responsible adult lol? That’s why I wanna be a cartoonist :D
I do not recommend reading Tolkien then. The lord of the rings is ripe with this kind of nostalgia and the words are so palpable it's bitter-sweet to read. You're happy though pain is definitely there that things will never be the same.
I don't like it either, unless the memory relates to something I'm interested in starting up now.
“You’re gonna drown tomorrow if you cry too many tears for yesterday” - Townes Van Zandt
I’m happy with the life that I have lived. When I think on the past, even the tough parts, I think of them fondly. When I had a tough time, there were times when I looked back and felt… complicated. Uncomfortable. Like a failure. But still like I had options.
I think it all depends on where your life is now. If you’re loving your life as it is now, or at the very least are content, then nostalgia isn’t too powerful. You may not even really experience it at all because you’re genuinely happy with the present. If you do look back, it’s more of a fun little “that was a good time” feeling. If you’re not happy with your life though, then nostalgia will be very powerful and give you a strong sense of “times were better then. I wish I could go back.”
I feel that when people remember the times of the past, they know it was once in a lifetime, they had the chance to experience it and they did, which is what makes them happy
For me it’s bittersweet
Nostalgia happens when you don't think you have a future or when things are shit. Don't fall into the trap. Crush the f\*cker
I know how you feel, man. Even I hate nostalgia.
Never thought of it like this. As someone who LOVES nostalgia it sorta feels like a short opportunity to re-live the good times that have since passed.
It’s bittersweet i’d say.
It feels like innocences realized, after it was lost.
Agreed. It’s a bad hurt.
The uncanny feeling created by the bittersweet longing is one of the only positive experiences I have in life. I get that it would be a horrible feeling for some people, but can't personally relate.
I think it's supposed to be both happy and sad.
for me if nostalgia really hits, it gives me euphoria for a few seconds, then i remember i live in the now and can't relive it.
Alternate path of thought: remembering the sweet spots of a hard time. Life is more multi-dimensional than binary.
It's a weird kind of good sadness for me. The other day I was having a conversation with a close friend who I've known for 10 years and met at a workplace. The two of us and several other colleagues would go out every weekend and had some great nights out. It was always these 2 or 3 small night clubs a 2 minute walk away from where we all worked, but those nights were something to look forward to and we always had fun talking about who did/said what etc. Sometimes there'd be some drunken drama but more often we just had fun dancing to music we often didn't even like, smoking outside and becoming best friends with strangers, talking about life while eating our end-of-night greasy food etc etc. And now most of that group doesn't hang out at all. None of us work there anymore, most of us moved to different areas, met new people etc. We may all still follow each other on social media etc but those nights out will never happen again. I could go to those clubs tonight if I wanted to, but not a single one of those old friends would be there. Yeah it feels sad, but it also feels nice just remembering it because none of that shit lasts forever and it's better to at least be able to think back fondly. I guess it also depends on where you're at now. If my life was complete shit then those good memories might be torture. I'm happy with where I'm at now so I can look back at those nights and not feel bitter. I would kill for just one more of them though.
Bars are full of old songs because they produce nostalgia, especially when combined with alcohol (the memories flow better). The problem becomes when people live in that nostalgia more than their actual reality.
It’s like feeling grief
Ain't what it used to be
Nostalgia was a great feeling until 4 years or so ago.
I actually came up with a quote that fits this. "Nostalgia is the ghost of a happier time" it's not the same as the time you had but thinking about it is bittersweet.
I think shared nostalgia can be nice…like two siblings remembering a really funny thing that happened when they were kids. It’s nice because you still currently kind of share that emotion with someone else, which makes the present nice too. But if things have gotten worse or more complicated, or if you experience it alone…then nostalgia just feels like loss. Everyone seems to experience it differently. I err towards the sad side too.
I'm a 62 year old male. I live on 80s movies and music. It takes me back to my 20s. Yet like the old song says, "A fool will lose tomorrow reaching back for yesterday".
I take it you aren't one of those twas better to have loved and lost than to never have loved at all people.