The Synonyms : Nostalgia and Growth
I recently had the lovely chance of having my cousins over for a couple of days. Considering how we had all been under voluntary House Arrest, it was a pleasant change. As we were gossiping our hearts out late at night we started talking about this one house party years back where we had an after party as soon as the guests left and we stuffed our faces with all the leftover food while the elders got into some intense political discussions. We didn’t even care to offer anyone the food and just kept hogging till our bellies were overly full.
The very next day, we started looking at pictures from years ago and talked about how adorable the youngest cousin looked, which was obviously followed by some leg-pulling by the humourist sibling in the family.
What we did not realise much at the time , and what I pondered on later after my cousins went back home , was the fact that we had made some really fun new memories while discussing the old ones and this chain will probably only grow longer the next time we meet.
These few days filled with nostalgia also made me think, we do actually crave it. We crave thinking about happy moments from our past with our favourite people, whether it is friends or family. We always want to go back to old memories and in the process we actually end up making new ones.
This also got me thinking why is it that we want to go back and think about the old days? Well, the obvious reason would be because when we get nostalgic we think of the happy memories associated with those moments. However, my two cents here, I believe I crave nostalgia because I like to compare my past self with my present self and think about how much I have grown. Although having said that, only my overthinking brain would think so much about memories. But I do believe we all grow as time passes and we don’t give ourselves enough credit for that.
Change, and growth simulated from that change is inevitable. If that change is positive, the next time you look at a picture of yourself from 5 years ago, don’t forget to give yourself a pat on the back.
