“Nostalgia is a powerful drug. Under its influence, ordinary songs take on dimensions and powers, like emotional superheroes.” —Kate Christensen
“Nostalgia is a file that removes the rough edges from the good old days.” —Doug Larson
“I don’t like nostalgia unless it’s mine.” —Lou Reed
Before the loss of innocence. When everything mattered, and the world was new and full of exciting prospects. Before the feuding and frustration. Before jaded took the place of buoyant optimism. Before the fall…there was a constant, tireless climb.
This ethereal energy resides in a space without adequate words for accurate descriptions. It lives in the music we run on a loop, the smells and sounds of youth and freedom, and the flashback bang of sudden reminiscence. Sensations wake hibernating butterflies like an instant time machine transportation to moments when our brains were buzzing with bottomless questions and our eyes were painting vivid, multicolored landscapes onto the blank canvases of our consciousness.
To peak at 13 is nothing to brag about, but it’s hard to deny the reality that those “possibility days” were filled with so much more substance, wonder, and potential than the current “every days.” This regular inclination to return to what feels familiar and safe is proof of the power of those vital, formative years. There is an undeniable pull to revisit the psychological head spaces that were inviting and secure, especially since the modern world has become an unpredictable, toxic, and addicted cesspool of anger, abuse, greed, and inequality.
So what’s the move? If we’re stuck standing in the here and now, unable to revert to our former selves, the only salve is memory-strolling through the lighter days and appreciating the fact that they existed in the first place.
Maybe they weren’t supposed to last forever, but nostalgia keeps us chasing that carrot and fighting for even a fleeting glimpse of those first feelings.
Mental snapshots are a lot heavier than JPEGs.
Snap away whenever you can.
Solitary Alignment 