15 - Nostalgia

NBC

This article was going to be about the 90s specifically. 

Oh, how I was going to name drop a litany of artists, films, snacks, and toys to trigger a dopamine hit in my fellow millennials. 

Nirvana, Pulp Fiction, Rugrats, Seinfeld, Dunkaroos, Tamagotchis - the list goes on and on.

Then I remembered I already did that - in a pretty extensive way. 

So rather than write about my love for the 90s in general yet again, I’m going to dedicate this article to the specific feeling that pushes me to do that in the first place: Nostalgia. 

A feeling we all experience, no matter what generation we were born in. 

Especially given the events of this year, I’m sure a lot of us look back on our pasts fondly. Everything just seemed better, simpler, and more enjoyable when we were younger. When we didn’t have to worry about bills, jobs, romantic relationships, or “adulting.” When our lives consisted of eating cereal and watching Saturday morning cartoons. When finally beating that one level in our favorite video game was the day’s sole objective. When the scariest virus around was cooties. 

I don’t want to minimize the experience of those who had dark, traumatic childhoods, but the fact remains - even if you’re not nostalgic for your formative years specifically, most of us still look back at a moment in our lives that we consider to be better than the one we’re living in right now.

As we grow further away from those moments, we tend to forget about the downs we experienced during them, glossing over them in favor of remembering just the good times, creating a curated highlight reel of emotion.

Chasing that high is a slippery slope though, because living in the past for too long can cause one to overlook the present. Some people never grow up, and while I’m a proud man child, I understand the dangers of being more child than man. 

Still though, there’s nothing outside of the sexual realm that gives me more of a natural high than nostalgic feelings do. They’re helping me stay sane during these times, as I retreat into myself and consume 90s media to soothe my weary soul. Am I using the past as a coping mechanism? Yes. Does that come with it potential complications down the road, including comparing any future happiness to that of my rose-tinted past and being disappointed when it doesn’t measure up? Yes. But is it one of the only things keeping me from mental breakdown at the moment? Also yes. 

So while I recognize the pitfalls of living in the past, I also recognize how powerful a tool it is for me personally, and now more than ever, I rely on it to keep me centered. 

Just like my past, I tend to overlook the negatives of nostalgia itself, and instead focus on the good aspects of it.