Are you living in the past? Do you long for the good old days? Do you wish things were like they used to be?
That longing for aspects of our personal lives framed in the past is a feeling shared by many.
We are confronted by the dichotomy of nostalgia: the sweetness of remembering the best of times and the sadness of knowing that they are gone forever. The irreversibility of time makes sure of that.
There is a line in the song Paul is Alive by the American Indy Rock duo El Vy that from the moment I heard it I thought it was brilliant:
“Don’t waste your life wishing everything was like it was.”
Personal nostalgia vs. Historical nostalgia
Personal nostalgia is a very comforting emotion. It takes us back to aspects of our life that we have already experienced and have stored in our memory. For example, it can transport us to a time when we were loved unconditionally by family and friends.
For some of us who are old enough to have grown up in the 1950s, when we wish for the good old days we are experiencing personal nostalgia attached to memories of carefree summers, new friends, or school experiences we enjoyed at that time.
A young Millennial on the other hand would likely see the 1950s as historical nostalgia, related to a comparison with the present.