Do you feel any nostalgia?

[Dappy777]

A few weeks ago, I went to a barbeque at which everyone had too much to drink. The group I sat with had known one another in their teens (they're now in their 50s) and grew quite nostalgic about their youth. Two of them had met at university and were reminiscing about the fun they had – the excitement of being away from home, getting drunk, going to parties and festivals, staying up all night talking about 'the meaning of life', etc. One of them actually wiped a tear away (she was pretty drunk).

Nostalgia is something I have never experienced. I don't say that with any bitterness. In many ways I have been lucky in life – I had loving parents, never experienced any abuse, etc – but I was such an unhappy teen. I was crippled with social anxiety and low self-esteem. I didn't go away to university but did a degree at the local university (where I barely spoke to anyone for three years). I've often wondered how common that kind of nostalgia is. Do most people yearn to go back to their teens and 20s? Do most people have lots of fun? Do you feel nostalgic about your youth (I mean roughly 13-25)? I hated my life from around 10 to my late 30s. Since then I have grown happier and happier. When I think back to my teens, it's just a blur of misery, bullying, fear and shame. And my 20s were even worse.

I feel a lot of nostalgia for my late teens and early 20s. I was at a middle school until 14 which I hated, but as soon as I moved on from there I was happy. Life was so carefree and fun back then (apart from exams!), and I’m sad that I’ll never get that back.

I hated my schooldays, but university was lovely — it was ok to be clever for the first time in my life, I studied a joint honours degree in subjects I loved, I made friends I still have, I studied somewhere beautiful, I met my DH, and did lots of things like student drama and running societies.

So, I have lovely memories of my student days, but would I want them back! No.

I have huge nostalgia - it often takes my breath away - for the years I lived in Asia.

God my second name is nostalgia !

(sets the baby name people chin rubbing 🤣)

Im nostalgic for me in my 20s. I had 3 kids in 6 years so although i was up to my eyes in nappies and laundry and 2 part time jobs i also managed to have the time of my life on regular nights out, was brave and bold and open and friendly and full of energy and said no to very little. I looked fantastic as well as my body bounced back after each preg. within a couple of months.

Back then (naughties) the world was less complicated and we were all less weighed down with huge world issues. sigh.

I am massively nostalgic, i spent the last couple of years at school yearning to leave and begin my life my way , when i did i had a whale of a time.
A job i loved and a wild social life , i miss the music and freedom and feeling such happiness, i was confident and strong physically but now I'm not so much and i really miss that ahhh just to go back for one more night out .
I look back with great fondness for a simpler way of life that no longer exists, i would absolutely love to live that time again.
I have a head full of nostalgic memories of Christmas and holidays, dogs and family some now gone, then my 3 babies and all the memories they have given me.
I feel a bit sad for those that don't feel it.

Nostalgia for lost youth. Not making most of that youth and not following dreams.

I had massive feelings when Live Aid was shown in its 40th anniversary earlier this year.
Seeing Madonna as a spritely youngster just starting her career stopped me in my tracks, so much has happened since then. I remember where I was on the day, no idea of what was coming next. Very nostalgic.

I have overwhelming nostalgia and it goes beyond my own experiences too. I love history and feel nostalgia for certain time periods in history, if that counts technically

I have a Spotify playlist 'born in the 60s' that has 70s/80s hits that I listen to, loudly in the car..😅 Certain tunes take me back to Certain points in my childhood

Many people really did have a wonderful time in their teens or 20s, but others re-write the past and imagine it to have been better than it was. I remember walking round the village with my grandfather as a child and bumping into an elderly lady who told me that she and my grandfather were great pals in their youth and often went around in a ''little gang" having fun. After she'd gone, my grandfather smiled and shook his head and said "I barely knew her, and we certainly never belonged to any little gang."

Then again, I think we also do the opposite. We imagine the past to have been much worse than it really was. I knew a girl who was convinced she'd had a dreadful time at school, where she'd been bullied and ostracised. She went to a school union in later life, and when she repeated all this the others stared at her in disbelief and said "but you were really cool and popular!!"

Nope. Hate it. I have no intention of seeing Oasis / Robbie etc. Saw them 30yrs ago.
I don't have fond memories of my youth. I'd rather look to the future.

I had assumed that Nostalgia was a Farrow & Ball paint, a sort of faded magnolia, with a hint of tobacco.

Very much so but definitely only for the happy eras in life.

Yes for university, it was great. No good memories of school and not especially of growing up as a child. Enjoyed 20s. Not something any of it I spend a lot of thought on.

I'm not really nostalgic at all. In fact, i have a terrible memory for anything that happened. My sister is exactly the same. We are very forward looking, always thinking about the next thing and the next.

I've had a lovely life though - super fun 20's where i partied non stop. Great childhood, super happy. Good job, lovely partner etc etc. But I never look back with rose tinted glasses and think about the past in that way. I know it's gone and I move on. I also love looking toward the future and being excited about what's to come (which is weird as one of my kids has cancer, but I still look forward with excitement and hope).

My partner is very different though, he lives almost relentlessly in the past. and looking towards the future scares him. But this can be not great, as there are links between nostalgia and depression.

was it U2 who said you glorify the past when the future dries up? Or it might’ve been Bowie. I try to look forward, not back. But maybe if my looking back was more fun, I’d be more inclined to reminisce.

No.

I can remember by-gone times fondly but I'm not nostalgic as such.
I wouldn't go back.
I'm the happiest, most secure, confident, wealthy, fit and beautiful I've ever been.

Oh yeah in nostalgic

The Oasis tour has brought up a lot of memories

I’m the same as you. I love my life now but my younger years were very difficult and I lurched from one disaster to the next with virtually non existent family support meaning I leant on the abusive boyfriends I jumped into the frying pan with. I do look back fondly on the year I finally managed to run off around the world which taught me so much about life and how the world works but as for groups of friends sitting around a bbq reminiscing about their good old days of youth, I’d feel pretty sad and uncomfortable.

@coxesorangepippini just came on to say that. Saw oasis last month and the nostalgia was overwhelming. Reminded me of sitting in parties as a teen with a few people playing oasis songs on their guitar. Good times!

I miss the carefreeness of being a child in the 80s, teenager in the 90s. No social media, no mobile phones (until late 96). I miss my college days of chilling with my friends. The music, the clothes, the films. The snowball fights in the middle of town, it would probably be frowned upon now or someone would complain on the local Facebook page. Weekends as a child spent riding your bikes and exploring until the street lights came on or someone was called in for tea.

I'm sure it wasn't all great and we had to contend with the IRA, Falklands war and things like that.

Life was simpler back then.

Life goes on though. I do think children these days have missed out on so much since the dawn of social media and technology has evolved.

Not for my childhood or teens - they were very difficult. But very much so for when my kids were babies and young children (all adults now). Huge nostalgia to the point of it being painful in fact!

I have had a great life, no regrets at all but at 54 I am not nostalgic in the least.

In fact all this nonsense of how great life was back then really winds me up!

There were good bits and bad bits as now, but I do wish some people would take off their rose tinted glasses

Yes, like another poster nostalgia is my middle name, always has been since I was a child. My life changed dramatically when I was 8 & the nostalgia started then. Even when I was happy with my current life. But it is even worse now I'm 55 & had a stroke, I'm struggling just to get through each day (medication making me very unwell & completely exhausted) I can't plan anything for the near or distant future, it's hard to stay positive & so the nostalgia is even worse 🫩