It can be fun to look back fondly on old memories and see how far you’ve come in life, but reminiscing takes a dark turn when we start to wish to go back to times that have already passed.
I’ve both observed and experienced a heavy amount of nostalgia in Gen Z as of late, and it is growing concerning. On TikTok and Instagram, “Nostalgia Core” continues to trend, where people post compilations of videos and images from childhood and up to a few years ago with captions like “Take me back.” I have even seen people express nostalgia for mere months ago and have even found myself guilty of it, too.
As Gen Z is becoming adults, we seem to be experiencing this intense yearning to go back. Now that we’re growing up, all we can think about is how nice it would be to be a kid again. This is inevitable, but falling too deep into that hurts-so-good nostalgia can be incredibly dangerous. After all, what does it really accomplish? Dwelling on the past only robs you of today’s joy.
There is this phenomenon where nostalgia can occur for a time when you weren’t even happy. I have occasionally longed to go back to periods of my life in middle and high school when I was miserable, but I want to go back to them for a sense of familiarity. Nostalgia can often manifest from being in a place in your life where there are big changes happening and you don’t know what’s coming next; it’s understandable to want to revert to a predictable place.
Then there’s the crushing and sometimes uncontrollable future nostalgia, where you are looking back on an event and missing it while you’re still in it. I honestly think this has robbed me of fully enjoying countless experiences because I was thinking about how sad I’m going to be when it’s over.
The reality is, even if you could magically go back to the last time you trick-or-treated, the day before winter break in elementary school, or the last summer before you went to college, no one would be waiting for you there. You would be stuck in the past alone, wasting your life while everyone else has already moved on.
Instead of looking back on childhood or previous years of your life and wishing you could go back, consider thinking about how that time felt and applying it to the present. Take your childlike joy and imagination and teenage adventurousness and employ it in who you are today. You can’t go back, but those past versions of yourself can still live inside you and guide your present-day life.
I think you should keep the old photos and yearbooks to look back on when you’re feeling reminiscent, but not to obsess over how much simpler life was then. You’ve passed it. And how lucky you are to be growing up and living your life! Embrace the newness as scary as it can be, because you are living the life that little you dreamed of.