To think it’s not normal how much I miss the 90’s and my youth

[Heartbeatonandhomeworkdone]

I think about it a lot. I have vivid memories of the mid 90’s (47 now) and being 13-17 in particular, 15-17 are the highlights.
I remember how I looked, the clothes I wore, how I walked, how I thought.
The naughtiness and excitement of those times, also being in my family home, that amazing group of friends, the laughing, the dancing, how anything seemed possible.
It almost feels like a dream

Does anyone else feel like this? The world seems such a very different place

I could cry for those days sometimes

I'm about your age and no, I don't feel this way at all. Never have. I'm really excited about the future. I guess I'm an eternal optimist because something better is just over the next hill and I'm really looking forward to getting there.

I was also very ill in my teenage years/early 20s - for me there is little to look back fondly on in the 90s so I don't experience nostalgia in the same way as many people do.

I’m 43 and completely agree. It’s worse because my Dd1 is 14 and is into 90s style clothing and seems to like the music too!

I think 9/11 was a real turning point in the world and for a lot of different reasons (many unconnected) things really did get a lot worse after that time. The 90’s was a fab decade for lots of people, whatever their age.

Was just thinking about 9/11, not sure why. But yes I agree. It was like the positive view of globalisation and immigration from the 90s was soured by the war in Iraq and the concept of ‘terrorism’.

Nostalgia is a bitch.
The priority should be focusing in the present and make the best out of it. Reminiscing about the past for too long can be draining.

I'm exactly the same age as you op and I don't feel the same.

I had an eating disorder and very toxic parents. This soured my teens. I was so relieved to move away to university, only to discover I was utterly miserable. I had counselling and anti depressants which took the edge off. I was very depressed when I moved back to my home town after university.

I do remember the fun times. The parties. The music. The clothes. The excitement of starting the latest temp job, as I was excited about what opportunities it would bring. The lack of responsibilities.

But life has just got better and better as I've got older. Ageing, peri menopause plus rising cost of living are tough. Buy I have a stable life. My happy marriage, my wonderful daughters, my career. I think it helps that I've had my kids later. My youngest is 3 and I love having a child that age. My kids bring me so much joy.

Agree. I'm with you, OP.

I am 52 this week and long for the 80's and 90's more than ever. I don't think SM platforms like Tik Tok help much, mine is full of people like us yearning for a dose of nostalgia, often has me in tears. How did those years go by so quickly?

I'm not enjoying my 50's and would love to go back.

After reading this thread I said to my husband “How did I get middle aged so quickly?”
He said “It wasn’t quick - it took years!”
I suppose he’s right 😄

I’m 50 and feel exactly the same. Driving around the lanes of Cornwall in my shit heap of a car post A-levels 1992 with grunge, madchester and pre britpop indie, and rave in the tape deck and radio 1. Friends in the car singing along. We were like the in betweeners, very uncool but hoping for better things when we got out of our small town. So much freedom and optimism for a future with better rights for women and peace in Europe. I was so uncool, fat, awkward and a loser but the music scene of the time gave me a place to belong. Off to Butlins for Shiiine On in November with all the other indie/rave kids reliving our best times. If anything I enjoy it more now with the self confidence of middle age.

I miss the pre-internet days. I am very grateful that I got the chance to grow up, as a teenager, being able to fuck up and make mistakes (as teenagers do) and do so in private without my every move being documented on snapchat or TikTok or whatever.

I can't imagine the pressure youngsters are under now to document their lives and curate some kind of immaculate image for themselves.

I used to love to hear 80s/90s music,TOTP,80s Tv etc ….I smile,but I actually do feel sad,it’s not that I’m late 40s&its a crisis,I don’t care I’m getting old. it’s that family members were still alive😥& life was great in England.

This is why the nostalgia is so bittersweet for me. I'm not longing for my youth so much as looking to connect with a time when my best friend was still alive, my parents were still alive, my extended family not scattered across the globe the way we are now. And I miss the way I laughed back then! Full-on, tears flowing, uninhibited laughter. Nothing seems that funny anymore. When did I become so serious?

I'm not unhappy, in fact I'm fairly content and comfortable with my life. But with age comes inevitable loss and there is sadness in that.

Yes about the laughing

I was 16 in 1990, left school in 1991, the following 8 or so years I loved. Pubs, clubs, raves. Living with my parents until I was 23, just paying my keep, money for a new outfit for a club. First car at 17. Out every Friday and Saturday night, 3 rings on the landline if I was staying out 😆 Mums roast dinner on a Sunday after a lay in. I'm 50 now and ended up in a club 3 years ago after a works party and left swiftly, watching the youngsters taking selfies and videos all night 😐 sitting at tables glued to their phones. Now it's an early meal out with my husband back home by 8.30 😁

The 90s were special, but we have to move forward not back. Previous posters are right to say nostalgia really kicks in when the present is not good.
There will be chances to be happy again. Hold on to that. Do everything you can to create happiness for others and for yourself now and in the future.

I’m much older than most of you. I was a teenager in the 60s, I loved every single second of it. The world changed dramatically then, we had been living with the aftermath of the war and this was a completely different lifestyle. The music, the clothes, the freedom. The Beatles, Rolling Stones etc were a revelation to us after the music that came before.

Did you ever see Peggy Sue got married - the movie. when she saw her grandma again because it was back in time? I think there is a lot of that too especially if dear ones are gone or just really old. We miss our childhood home maybe. It reminds me that right now my dc are an age they won’t be again, I still have dh and dm still.

Just thinking again (the sun is out it always makes me nostalgic!)

The city I went to University in had an amazing Topshop and we'd go in there to look at the lovely clothes and jewellery we buy get before a night out which was nearly as good as the night out itself!
There was always late 90s or early 00s dance music on and you'd show your friends the outfits you wanted. Then you would all walk home, sometimes the sun was out, you might pass fit boys on the way.
Back in uni halls/ house you'd play music, get ready in each others rooms, have some lambrini or vodka, occasionally indulge in drinking games or watch SATC or Friends whilst getting ready.
Night out was amazing you danced all night. There was wall to wall hot men and if luck was on your side you might end up snogging one of them 😊😅

Bloody hell it was awesome!
I am so glad I'm old! I would not want to be young no. Everything online, everything recorded, no high street, no CDS, drinks expensive, etc etc.
I'm glad I lived in an era where 10p vodka shots and £1 pints were a thing!
My brother lives in my uni town and I go past this old Topshop a couple of times a year...it is now boarded up.

Life was so very much nicer then. And it’s gone for ever. It’s immensely sad for those of us that knew a better world. For those used to low standards, they think we’re a few sandwiches short of picnic. They can’t comprehend how much better it was. Just as well really.

Firstly you don’t sound old from your references, mid 40s at the latest?
And most of the stuff you list I am doing now, going out and dancing all night and wall to wall hot men who I have a snog and maybe take home haha. Shopping for nice clothes in preparation of that.

Me too, and my life is pretty good at the moment.

Sometimes I just get a 'feeling'. It's hard to scescribe. A bit like a waking dream, and then I'm back but feeling sad.

Sorry - went a bit woo there 😁

For me, 99-03 were the best years of my life. I remember them vividly and have never been as happy as I was then.
😭😭😭

Yes I REALLY miss everyone not having their head buried in their phone. Actually I miss phones not existing at all, and not even being aware that they were missing if you see what I mean? That genuine in-the-moment life, not forcing ourselves off our phones for the sake of trying to break the addiction.

This thread is so timely as I've been feeling the same way. I turn 40 next year and just feeling such a nostalgia for the past it almost hurts 😭 life isn't exactly bad now so I'm not sure what that's all about and I do often wonder whether it's just a middle aged thing or whether it's because the world has went to s**t🤔