Nostalgia
Week 14: Winter Abernathy - 26 April 2022 [10:54am]
Nostalgia is a drug. It causes us to wear rose colored glasses that splay a sepia gradient over our memories, good and bad alike.
As some of the people around me know, I am likely doing Ohlone College Connections next year(the paperwork parts have been filled out, plan is in motions) and in the most recent meeting about the program, I noticed someone from my past. My former best friend who stopped talking to me about a year ago is apparently, also doing the program. As this week’s topic may suggest, I have been bathing in the light of nostalgia recently.
I’ve been reminiscing, watching old videos and remembering hangouts. I find it funny how the ghosts of my past selves and people I loved(and still love) walk around this town. I understand that time as we know it is linear but sometimes I think it all melds together. When I go to old cafes that I used to frequent with my former best friend and our other friends, when I go to the mall, I feel the overlap. I feel the chill of the ghost of Christmas past. And as dramatic as this may seem, it is truly all I have been thinking about recently.
There is a quote that talks about how when you turn a certain age, 17 lets say, you are also all the ages before. And I suppose that with my birthday being just around the corner(I never celebrate it or feel much about it normally but this year is truly one of change), I am feeling it. I’m turning 17 but I’m also 14, 12, 10, 5, and 2; I am every version of me that came before today. I love all the people I loved at 14, 12, 10, 5, and 2 and I love new people and I dislike some of those people but I still love.
It is insane being in the same town for so long, for the first several years of my life I moved a lot, even if it was just schools to someone that young, I moved a lot. So to grow older and begin to realize how small it truly is, to start driving down streets I used to walk down at a time that feels like a lifetime ago, it have been quite the shock, quite the reminder that this is my life.
I have grown so much in this past year, I have learned so much especially about myself. This is my life, the choices I make are for my future and to gain that level of self-worth and self-recognition in less than a year has definitely been quite the shock.
Thank you for coming on this rollercoaster of a crisis with me. Our lives are our own.
Image: @kelseypeshek on twitter
Hi Winter! Nostalgia isn’t a drug I like to indulge in, but it certainly is a fun path to go down to. Regrettably most spots that would give me any sense of real nostalgia are thousands of miles away and the memories associated are locked away in crevices of my mind rarely explored. It is however really weird to think that since we are a collection of all of ourselves, I really was that person who did that when I was 5(although I am told I have not changed since then often). I am glad though about your self recognition and self worth, because some prizes are only given from us to ourselves and sometimes it's easy to forget that
ReplyDeleteHi Winter, nostalgia is such an interesting concept. For me, nostalgia makes me happy, thinking about the good old times when my worries seemed so small. I have some images of scenes ingrained in my mind capturing a good memory with the people closest to me. It does come with a wave of sadness, thinking about how those good times are behind me, but is a comforting place that I carry around with me.
ReplyDeleteHey Winter! This was a very touching read! I feel a sense of nostalgia whenever I pass by my old elementary school. The breeze carries over the familiar waft of tanbark over and suddenly I'm taken back to my carefree childhood days, back to when my biggest worries were about being able to get to the monkeybars before anybody else. I’ve always just thought about these feelings as something buried in my past, but never as something that has shaped me. Happy Birthday! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteWinter, this post definitely hit home for me. Recently, I am experiencing, for a lack of a better word, friendship problems. It hurts to see the people I was once so close with and share every one of my secrets and insecurities to brush past me like a random person in the hallways. Every time I see them all the memories I made come rushing and so does a roller coaster of emotions; it makes me nostalgic. However, I need to learn how to move on and allow myself to make new memories.
ReplyDeleteHey Winter, recently I have been experiencing a lot of bittersweet nostalgia when I think about the past or look through old photos and videos. We have a tablet thing at home; I forgot what it was called, but it would choose old photos from the same month and date as the present day but just from previous years and put them on a slideshow display. Whenever I happen to come across the display of these old photos, it brings me joy thinking about my carefree childhood, but it also makes me sad as it reminds me of how much I have grown and the responsibilities that now weigh me down every day. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHi Winter! This definitely resonates with me, as I am a very nostalgic person. I often find myself thinking back to elementary school, and especially fifth grade, as I think that was one of the happiest times of my childhood. While nostalgia can be fun and heartwarming, looking back at old memories also comes with mixed feelings. My friends from elementary school and I have all moved apart, and when I find myself often thinking about them, I wonder if they think about these times as well or if they still remember me at all. It is definitely true that we are all still the ages that came before, as people have told me that I haven't changed at all since middle school.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter, I hope you had an amazing birthday! I hear from almost everyone that they wish they could return to their past when life was simpler and less stressful. When all you had to worry about was getting home on time to watch your favorite show or get on a call with your friends. Growing older comes with its advantages and disadvantages but it still shouldn’t stop us from doing the things we love. Sometimes growing up causes us to separate from friends and family but it doesn’t mean they should stop talking to you or forget the past that they had with you. I hope that through your program, you and your friend will be able to bond again.
ReplyDeleteHi Winter! I think the feeling of nostalgia is very unique and welcoming. It is like the feeling of meeting an old friend that you have not seen in years or looking through your childhood photo album, laughing about how tiny you were. Yesterday, I heard a song that I used to listen to all the time in elementary school and I was suddenly flooded with memories of walking home with my sister after school, playing in the park with friends, and making bracelets out of leaves and twigs. These memories made me feel complete and I hope to make more memories to look back upon in the future. Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteHey Winter, the topic of nostalgia is one I can relate to very much. I remember sometimes just scrolling through my camera roll, looking at adventures past me have experienced. They bring back waves and waves of memories, and I often miss those times. This is the part I dislike about nostalgia: it brings back great memories, but it also brings sadness that some of these memories will never be repeated again. But I guess that is the nature of life, that we live everyday to make more of these memories, so in the future we can look back and think of how great it all was.
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