It started around age 35 and just gets stronger as the years go by

[Chemtrailsoverthecountryclub]

Nostalgia and thinking of the past-childhood, teens, twenties…

Mid 40’s now and have always been a bit nostalgic, but it didn’t really kick in hugely until mid thirties. I noticed a lot of people from school reconnecting, thoughts of old loves, teenage years.

Now at 47, it’s stronger than ever. My life is nice, nothing missing, but I think a lot about childhood, my teens, where I used to live, all my family when living at home and it just gives me such a pang of sadness…I know i’ll look back on these times of Dc being young in the same way.

Does anyone else have this? Instagram seems to be full of it. I wonder why we as humans are like this.

It’s such a cliche but life really does fly by so quickly

No. I don't have a good memory for things in the past.

Well, I absolutely loathed being a child and teenager so I am not nostalgic for that at all. However I am nostalgic for the 1990s in that I really wish I was a young adult then (even though I was a young child in the 90s).

I am living my dream life right now tbh, at the age of 35, so perhaps I’ll feel nostalgic about now in the future!

Nostalgia.....its not what it used to be 🙂

The analogue world was very different and much less 24/7.

Mind you, nostalgia isn't what it used to be.

God no! I’ve never been nostalgic for the past especially my childhood.

I hated school and being the poor kid and left school at 15. I was academically very able but one of my parents was an alcoholic and a smoker so it was stressful, money was tight and I had zero friends.

My first holiday was as an adult and I did that on the cheap. Even when I’ve earnt a decent wage, I struggled to enjoy it as I’m always worried about frittering it away and ending up being poor again.

I’m approaching 60 and have the odd happy memory from years gone by but I’d never yearn to be back in any particular decade.

I try to live in the present and enjoy the here and now.

Yes happening to me right now. Aged 35. Im significantly reflecting on emotions and why I've been passive allowed myself to be manipulated in relationships and what I actually want in life. What I value more what clothes I want to wear. I'm reconnecting with my authentic self and looking at why I've suppressed emotions from childhood. I had a good childhood but my step dad who brought me up from aged 2 got alzheimers when I was 11. Teen years very hard my mum having 3 kids me being the youngest she had no one and worked 90 hours a week to manage and we lost the car as step dad was the only driver. I had no emotional support and went to boys for it to seek validation. I'm seeing this now!

I guess there is a silver lining to my awful childhood after all. Nothing to miss. Now are my happy times. I have a little pang when I see pictures of my kids as babies though.

Yes. As I'm getting older I'm dreaming more and more of people in the past, some of whom I haven't thought of in years and were not even really that special to me. I have worried if my brain is preparing me for death!😂

No,

I had a shit childhood/teenage years.

i do miss the feeling that things were getting better though.

there’s definitely a feeling at the moment that things are shit and not going to get better

I’m late 30s and I think about my 20s a lot. Things like being carefree and travelling and even day drinking In the sun on a whim. I don’t think about it to the extent where it takes over my life but I do feel nostalgic. I’m pregnant with a small dc and it takes over your life so much being a parent I think it’s normal to reminisce over what life was like before. That said I love having a family and wouldn’t change it.

Every time “Forever Young” comes on the radio I start crying 😂

This is me. I am incredibly nostalgic for the 90s and very early 00’s and get quite upset sometimes that life has moved on so much.
Life was stretched out before me but I felt like I’d always be young (growing up seemed to be something that happened to other people- like I’d been born to always be a child/teen) and I had friends, freedom and no financial responsibilities. The world was exciting- technology was emerging but hadn’t taken over, so the things we had enhanced life but hadn’t turned us into zombies.
I wish I could go back to those times with the confidence I have today.

I often google my childhood home to see if it’s for sale. I feel like, if I could buy it, I’d get my childhood life back. But the fact is that the neighbours are gone, the shops aren’t what they were, and the Important people aren’t alive any more.

Yes. It really kicked in after the death of my parents and a bout of serious illness for me. I think it translates literally to "painful homecoming". It hurts sometimes.

I much prefer being mid-40s to being mid-20s. Yes I had fewer responsibilities but far less happiness and calm and stability along with it. I don't have any hankering for the past.

I'm in my 60s and constantly think back to the 70s, 80s, and even the 90s. There's nothing wrong with my life now but things just seemed better then. It's probably worse now that my parents have gone and I don't really have any family, it's nice to think about how good life used to be. I'm happy enough but there doesn't seem to be anything to look forward to so I look back instead.

I’m afraid I don’t reminisce like that at all.

Im mid 50s now. Childhood feels like a dream. I was living overseas then. When I see photos, it feels like a foreign place, not home. It’s so different.
I have fond memories of my 20s. I had a really great time. But yes. Just that. No longing or sadness. Just the awareness it was great.
After that? Tbh I’ve had health issue after health issue since dc1 was born. I’ve been in survival mode most of the time, if not all. So no, if I look back, I see hardship and struggle. Not fluffy memories.

Which brings me to the fact you’re really lucky and privileged. And maybe also looking back at things with rose tinted glasses tbh.

Yes here!

I have a long term memory that never stops surprising me with what it remembers.

When I was in hospital all I kept being feed on one channel was Eastenders episodes from the early 90’s. I just looked up a scene I remember and that was like 92!

I said recently why was I fascinated with hospitals as a child, I had the fuzzy felt, was forever sticking wet tissue on my dolls so it dried like a cast! Tormented my brother and friends into playing doctors and nurses casualty style over mum and dads! Less keen as an adult, the hca was like as a child you are fearless and proceeded to tell my about a lad one time on the children’s ward who got their bed raised so high up when let loose with the control they couldn’t believe it.

Nostalgia is very normal. I remember in the 90s people saying how much better the 60s were and how unlucky kids today were to miss them. It's the yearning to be young and carefree. Age 21 i could have done anything or gone anywhere, age 38 I have kids, I need to be in catchment areas etc thr world is much less available in that sense. But my life is also kjch better now.... just more stressful!

I have an adult DC, teen DC, and two primary aged DC. Acutely aware of how fast they grow up.

30 years ago I was doing my A levels. I had finally found my tribe at college after years of being bullied at school.I had a boyfriend who was a lovely lad and it was a fabulous hot summer. I'd love to go back to 1995 again as nothing was ever quite the same after everyone went their separate ways at 18. How can it actually have been 30 years?

I don’t really have this. I hated the uncertainty of what the future would bring when I was in my teens and twenties. There seemed to be so much pressure in knowing what to do with your life and setting it all up. What job to do and being employable etc. I’ve worked so hard at getting my career set up and having stability in terms of finances and relationships. I feel much more settled and comfortable with the present than I did before I knew what I would do and where I would be. I think it probably boils down to a lack of confidence as a young person, and maybe I should regret time I wasted being anxious about the future. But I think I’m an old soul and I look forward to getting older!

Actually no. I can't bear thinking back as I have to remember what a mess it's all been. I'm trying to make the second half of my life a bit better.

Absolutely. I think it's normal, we are middle aged. I've found myself buying comforting nostalgic things like ugly 1990s mugs 😅 a few t shirts, some retro music etc. it makes me feel carefree and warm. I need that.

And friends seem to reminisce more too, about playground fads and games, what we used to wear, etc. I like it, I also like getting things to show the kids from my childhood. Tamagotchi! Glitter bracelets! Pogs! Lol.

I reckon it's brought on by getting through the difficult years of our own kids and their early childhoods,then being able to relax and look back, rather than striving forwards as we were ten years ago maybe. I've got time now to pause and have a think.