Do you ever get hit by a wave of nostalgia so powerful that it hurts? What are you nostalgic for?
Posted by CommercialOil8763@reddit | AskUK | View on Reddit | 46 comments
I'm still in my 20s, so very young, but sometimes I randomly get hit with this overwhelming wave of nostalgia that genuinely hurts for a few minutes. Not even for one specific thing, just a mix of old memories, people, places, certain evenings, old websites, childhood TV, hearing a song from years ago, even the feeling of a particular time period in life.
It’s strange because sometimes I don’t even miss the actual situation itself, just the feeling of being in that moment and not realizing it would eventually disappear forever.
Does anyone else get this? What are you nostalgic for the most?
Balnagask@reddit
Mcat when it was a legal high sold as plant food. Mmnn it was beautiful in its awful hideousness.
Good times!
Ok-Statement-2578@reddit
My mum died in 96 when I was 9 and it was like my childhood ended that day. So now I get really nostalgic with stuff from the early 90s, the music, TV shows, films etc, a lot of the stuff I don't even remember from the time, as I was only 9, but it has the undefinable quality about it that makes me both happy and sad at the same time.
Sashaflick@reddit
Nothing hits harder than that piano and drum intro of Doves “Black and White town”
Takes me all the way back. Knocking on for a mate at 9:00am and doing nothing and everything all at once until 9:00pm.
-FangMcFrost-@reddit
I'm nostalgic 24/7 and it really negatively effects my mental health.
I can't help it but I'm always nostalgic and I just really miss the late 90s/early 00s so much. I get nostalgic for other periods in my life but the late 90s/early 00s is what I miss the most.
I always look back on certain periods of my life and it cheers me up for a couple of seconds but then I quickly become sad as I realise that those days that I really miss will never come back. I sometimes try to look to the future and be all positive about it but I just can't do it as the future just looks incredibly shit to me, which then makes me sad.
So I'm just stuck being sad about the past, the present and the future.
FlowRoko@reddit
People like to say that we remember the bad more than the good, but anybody who's been in a prolonged 'bad spot' later in life after having a good childhood knows that's not true. It's unfathomably painful to realise that your life satisfaction peaked when you were not even an adult.
Future-Selection9287@reddit
Yah I'm only 27 and it hurts to think about summers gone by and just how much has changed and I feel so disconnected
FlowRoko@reddit
Think most people's 20s are rough in one way or another. It's a transitional decade between teenage rebellion where you think you have it all figured out and the 'Oh, I'm the adult now' of your 30s.
Especially these days were adolescence really extends into the mid-late 20s for many people.
cloudswalking@reddit
I'm of the generation when most of population watched the same TV programmes. At work, at school, travelling... people had a common currency of humour, drama, news, etc. Comedy shows were awesome at poking the establishment, and programmes like MASH really pushed at boundaries.
Now, there's a separateness, there's no shared cultural narrative. The echo chambers feed division and judgement.
Glittering_Vast938@reddit
It’s smells sometimes for me - things like the smell of fallen leaves in Autumn or smoke from a coal fire.
Also the way the light shines too on a particular day casts me back to a similar day in time from my childhood.
GeggingIn@reddit
Whenever I see children enjoying a nice day out with their Granny and Grandad.
Arbdew@reddit
Was out on a bike ride this morning and the smell hot weather, warm tarmac and blossom- particularly hawthorn whacked me with a wave of nostalgia from when I was a child/young teen. Reminded me of the school playing fields in the summer term when it was all sports days/open days/fundraising events (obv not exam years). Was like smelling 40 years ago.
NobDeRiro@reddit
For me it’s mostly smells. I can smell something and it takes me back to being a kid and experiencing that same smell. Sometimes the smell coming from the river and river banks takes me back to being about 11 and exploring the woods and water edge near where I live!
PM-ME_UR_TINY-TITS@reddit
Sometimes yeah. Just my general mid teenage years really. They were some fun times. Still had a hint for the childlike joy and the misery of growing up had yet to set in.
Double_Double7407@reddit
Looking back fondly at teenage life, are we "PM ME UR TINY TITS"? I'm sure this is fine....
PM-ME_UR_TINY-TITS@reddit
What are you trying to say?
therealonnyuk@reddit
He's obviously not read your disclaimer
BatOfBeyond@reddit
Exactly this. I miss being 15 and full of angst, joy, fear and invincibility! Being an actual adult just means tidying and choosing meals EVERY WEEK OF YOUR LIFE
takingphotosmakingdo@reddit
Walking out of a specialized bunker for a civilian organization in a known industry on TV regularly and the smell of burning fireplace nearby reminded me of my time in Iraq. Same temperature, same smells, same lighting, and I felt I had finally found a job i fit in again.
That, unfortunately wasn't the case, but for a brief time I felt normal and excited again.
No-Owl-5625@reddit
27 and have 3 kids, had my first baby at 19, I can’t remember my life without my first it’s all a blur, because the period between 15-18 is trauma, but when I do, it’s like this whole ‘butterfly effect’ what do you mean if I didn’t talk to that boy in school at 16 I wouldn’t have 3 boys before 30 😭😭
RoutineAbroad3486@reddit
I swear the whole of the UK in the summertime had a filter on it when I was 10-16 😂 like even the days don’t look the same anymore
Bhafc1901@reddit
Yep I feel about the same up until I was 14/15, and I’m only 18 lmao
therealonnyuk@reddit
I used to snowboard annually in Europe with friends did it for about 12 years steady, absolutely loved it, my most favourite thing, had a kid, got older, had another kid got a bit older and suddenly the same time had passed and I was 44 and I had barely looked at my board, last year I was in a mountain sports shop in Glasgow, and walked around the snow sports section and almost cried I was so overwhelmed with nostalgia for it.
Earlier this year I got my son (10yo) some second hand gear and I dusted off my stuff, and we took it up again together, was so pleased he enjoyed it were planning a trip away to Europe for early next year, hopefully he'll be my new annual snowboarding friend.
P_Dog_88@reddit
Miss going to the video shop with my dad. Knowing nothing about the films, just choosing one because the cover art looked cool.
karennotkaren1891@reddit
All my old friendships that I lost along the way (there has been a LOT) 💔
MrsTheBo@reddit
Yes - even for periods of my life that were difficult/painful, I still mourn for those moments that can’t be returned to.
EvilTaffyapple@reddit
I miss going in to Croydon on a Saturday to play the newest PlayStation or Nintendo game on the demo units in Virgin Megastore, all the way back in the 90’s.
My brother and I would play games for a few hours whilst my mum did the shopping.
Not a care in the fucking world. What a time to be alive.
AlucardVTep3s@reddit
Lmao Gamestation in town was heaven on earth for me
RiceeeChrispies@reddit
I'll never forgive Game for fucking up Gamestation.
CertainFurball@reddit
My friend and i literally stood in virgin megastore and completed halo on random Thursday when we had no classes at college. The staff didn’t ask us to leave, they just came to check on us occasionally. Imagine having the time to do that!
srogijogi@reddit
Of course. From time to time I realise that there are plenty (so no way to describe that all) of stuff I will never, ever do again, and my life is short and will end quite soon.
SteamerTheBeemer@reddit
I get it too, but I dunno if I’d say it “hurts” unless you mean metaphorically. But yeah it’s a shit.
When I was a lot younger like as a kid of about 10/12 I would have this thing about time passing. Trying to hold on to moments. Not wanting to sleep after a good day (although not always with good days). Something about the passage of time that I was/am uncomfortable with. I’m more used to it now I’m in my 30s but yeah…
jilljd38@reddit
In my 40s and would love to be late teans , early 20s back in the late 90s when 5 quid in my mates fiat 126 would last us ages , driving to Manchester airport for a coffee at 2 in the morning because it was the only place open and you could do that back then , or 10 quid would be a night out and taxi fair home ,
iamabigtree@reddit
Nostalgia is a nice place to visit. But it can be an addiction. A little now and then is okay.
But you can easily be defined by it. And worse get into some misguided loop where you think you can bring those 'good times' back, and start looking around for who is at fault as to why you can't.
hypertyper85@reddit
Yeah, I'm 41 now but I get nostalgic when I go to my parents house (where I lived from age 2 to 23) and just being in the neighbourhood. I would love to go back to my childhood for a week.
hypertyper85@reddit
I feel sorry my my kid, who's 10, because he doesn't play out with friends outside. You can't on our street, just a street with cars parked on the pavement, no room to play. I wish I'd thought about that when I moved here (he was 10 months old). In the 90s, I was out constantly, rollerskating, cycling, wondering around, playing in trees, climbing things, playing with random cats or stopping to stroke people's dogs, playing curby, going to the shop to buy sweets. He's not done much of that, plus he's an only child whereas I grew up with 2 older brothers. Our childhoods are so different and it's sad.
Whulad@reddit
Er, that’s nostalgia for you
Snoo-84389@reddit
Music is beautiful and powerful stuff.
Just a few days ago a radio DJ started playing the Human League album DARE and talking about its launch in 1981 when I was a teenager and just loved the album and... oh my lord... waves of emotion and thoughts of "45 years, OMG god no!" just rolled over me while I was badly singing "These are the things, these are the things, things that people dream of..."
😀
mentaldriver1581@reddit
The (relative) warmth of my dysfunctional family of origin, especially my dog. RIP all of you.
ImNotShy1226@reddit
I used to. Its gotten considerably less as I grew older and I am thankful as it was genuinely painful
Proper_Emu_2296@reddit
Oddly I was far more nostalgic when I was younger. I think as a teen/young adult you sense stuff is changing rapidly and you are saying goodbye to times you’ll never recapture, and you look for anchors to cling to.
Now I’m almost 40 I’m not very nostalgic at all. Feel like I’ve heard all the music (yes all of it) a million times. Plus, 10 years starts to feel like a blink of the eyes ago, rather than a lifetime.
Like… the recent wave of nostalgia for 2016. In my mind that was a couple of years ago, what’s to be nostalgic about?
utwx7u2@reddit
No i dont have that. My childhood was getting beaten
ExcellentAd6853@reddit
❤️❤️ I hope you can heal.
AllThatIHaveDone@reddit
I don't like thinking about the past because it's so painful. Nostalgia is a young person's game 😂
Prior_Hair_896@reddit
also still in 20s but get very painful waves of nostalgia, even for 5 years ago. it’s mostly music, smells, driving past old places we used to hang out. it’s tough living in the same small town i always have, every corner holds memories
MountainMuffin1980@reddit
Yeah for sure. Especially when I get a certain smell of like, burning wood, cut grass and the sound of the wind blowing in the trees. It reminds me if being a carefree kid/teen going around the woods and fields in the countryside scrumping Apples and poaching fish and cooking them over a little fire. Great times.
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