Nostalgia | Why Do We Mourn The Past?

Can we see nostalgia as an enjoyable indulgence in the past or is it actually a form of suffering and, thus, harmful?

Script, cuts, voice, footage by Einzelgänger. I have used creative commons (links below) and a few public domain pieces from Pixabay (links available upon request).

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Music used:
Au.Ra - Searching In The Mountains
Dan Bodan - Leoforos Alexandras

Creative commons:

#nostalgia #stoicism #buddhism

[Hugo-lmed]

Sometimes the happy memories are the saddest ones 😢

[zacharysmith]

Sometimes I'm nostalgic for my childhood. The perspective of a child is pure. They live in a form of blissful ignorance. That's what people miss the most, I think.

[jrlakin]

I am haunted by my nostalgia. It’s a sweet pain that I don’t want to let go. It’s a very beautiful thing.

[TheLifeFormulaa]

Nostalgia comes from a dissatisfaction with the present moment. Love that line!

[smartphone]

Remember, years later this exact moment will be nostalgic, so enjoy.

[aceygonzales]

I don't know why, but nostalgia sometimes makes me regret somethings I have done in the past, I guess it's taking a trip down into the memory lane of how much I could've made everything better.

[ryanr]

I almost never comment using this profile, but I am gladly making an exception for this video.

I am 24 years old, and the theme resonates strongly with me at this point in my life. In fact, I am dealing with this issue right now, and so was almost superstitiously shocked to see this appear in my subscriptions when I logged on. I've been through very intense and different chapters in my life, and though they were more painful than pleasurable, the current stage of my life is a very grey, neutral, somber one. Like the depressingly cold ashes left behind from a furnace. And when you go through a lot and enter this peaceful but empty, lonely stage... nostalgia becomes an addictive drug. You just want to feel alive and connected with others again, even if the people you long for were toxic.

What you said hits the nail right on the head: "We tend to romanticize the things from before." I have quite a few songs on my phone that I sometimes listen to, just to bask in the memories. You rationalizing it - explaining how we are nostalgic for previous phases regardless of how terrible they were when we actually experienced them - really helped. Thanks a lot, Einzelganger. Your content is precious and helps more people than you may think.

[bronzantilium]

I think part of the appeal of nostalgia is that it is safe. The past is gone, it is not a period of action but reflection; it is like a book or a movie that you have seen before and know how it ends and can be returned to for comfort and even the conflicts are now part of the plot and the pain distant over time. It is a safe oasis and a way to commune with people and places that no longer exist...and that includes yourself. Nostalgia takes you back to a younger time when you were a different person and life was fresher. However after analyzing my memories I realize many of the same problems I had in the past still linger and have never been addressed and overcome, thus making the present more difficult and the future dark and uncertain. This makes nostalgia all the more seductive. It’s a double edged sword.

[AJ_Jingco]

My Nostalgic moment is on my childhood mainly on the decade of 2000's and early 2010's.

[HumansOfVR]

*_“I'm nostalgic for a better tomorrow.”
― Brian Spellman_*

[OrehBelich]

I want to get rid of nostalgia.

I think more and more about past, about "good old times". At the first glance there is nothing bad, but I am so nostalgic that I basically live in the past, not caring about present and my own future. I am 26 but I feel like I there is nothing good left which is not true at all, but my constant nostalgic way of thinking (if I can put it so) makes me feel that way. This is the reason why I have not achieved anything substantial in my life for the past 3-4 years. And recently I broke up with my girlfriend. The city we met and lived for about 7 years became one big nostalgic (and tragic) place.

I defienetely need to change the way of thinking, strive for future and achive something. But It is impossible if you always look back at good ol' times. So here am I, searching for how I can change my thinking patterns.

Best of luck to you, make plans for future, live in present. You can make life quite enjoyable right now and right here, but do not trade your present and future for the long gone past.

Upd: the overload of nostalgia basically devaluate your current life.

[dylpickle]

I don’t know what it is about your voice but it’s so calming. I lover the accent and the tone. Your videos are great too.

[margrose]

It’s interesting to read all these comments and realize how many people experience this. This video articulates my feelings quite clearly. At 70 years old, nostalgia has become more emotionally charged for me.

[MsJuliadanny]

I never felt nostalgic, always pretty much living in the present and trying to make the most of my life. Then my mother died and I crashed. Mourning, grief and mild depression lingering for two years. She left an emptiness in my life that nobody can fill. That’s the meaning of nostalgia for me, now. Knowing that some people cannot be replaced, that the past probably was not the way I remember it, that I imagine things were better then.... but still... the present and the future interest me less. I have no plans, apart from trying to be useful to those who need me.

[FIDEL_CASHFLOW_]

You look back when you have nothing to look forward to.

[mayamhsen]

Nostalgia is perhaps nostalgia for being younger... it is perhaps an escape away from future death. It almost gives the illusion of eternity.. plenty of past times to think of and remember. Indeed, "a human rebellion against impermanence". Thank u for this

[markinovf]

*Frodo* : _I wish it need not have happened in my time_
*Gandalf* : _So do I, and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us_

[seanregan]

My whole life is consumed with a near constant aching for the past moments of my life. The past seems like my real life, and the present feels surreal

[jackiejolie]

I can't avoid nostalgia sometimes. Like today I watched a movie called "Surfs Up" from 2007. Thought it would be ok, since I didn't have many memories of the movie. I was wrong. By the end of it, a while wave of nostalgia hit me in the face, it hurt so much. It brought back other memories that relate to the ocean, throwing me to the early 2010's. I miss it.

[Usernameusername]

I mourn the past often, when I was young, before people I loved had passed away, being carefree, having many friends, relationships. It hurts to look back, but I would not give up these memories for anything.