Blast from the Past

“A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life, to one's home or homeland, or to one's family and friends; a sentimental yearning for the happiness of a former place or time.”

What better way than to start a today’s blog than by using a definition of a word from the dictionary. Today I will be looking at the term Nostalgia and what this means to us, before I start there is one thing that I have noticed and that is we all seem to us the definition of the word when we are talking about our fond memories to one another but when we talk about video games we seem to us the word so readily, so why is this?

Now my understanding behind these small details is that when we are talking about our past it just does seem right to mention the word nostalgia while we are talking about something personal because it just doesn’t give us the depth we are trying to portrait, but when we talking about a video game we use the word nostalgia straight away mainly to get the person you are talking to, to have a look at the game so that they can understand the depth for themselves.

The reason that I have decided to talk about this topic today is mainly because without our past experiences we wouldn’t be the people we are today and we also wouldn’t get others to partake in what we have done or will do. Now what could I possible mean by all this, well if you think about it for a moment. If you were to talk to a close friend of yours that has just come back from a holiday that they really enjoyed and it was a place that you have through about going to and haven’t got round to it thus far and you hear how good it was from them, you might then consider going. Once you have then decided to go on this holiday and come back from it you will take it upon yourself tell said friend and others what you like out about the holiday. The two of you who have already gone on this holiday will then reminisce about it which in turn could have a positive effect on other to go on the same holiday one day.

Now nostalgia can also be very subtle and what I mean by this, is if you think about some of your favourite music track, your mind for some reason will bring up a memory that bought you joy from your past for no reason at all. A good example for me would be from an artist called Sonique and the track was called “It Feels So Good”. Now there is a part in this track that reminds me of the time when I was younger playing a video game called F-Zero-X(A futuristic racing game), where my mum made a comment about how good I was at a certain part of the race and whenever this part of the song comes on, my mind will always go back to that moment in time and play it out as if it was the first time.

So as you can see nostalgia has played two massive parts, one being getting other to partake in a similar holiday or hobbies and the other in bring back a very import and special moment from your past, but there is also one part of nostalgia that can also be very dangerous. 

If you read the first part of the definition you will clearly see what I am talking about “A wistful desire to return in thought or in fact to a former time in one's life.” If you have ever heard the saying “You are living in the past” then you will know that some people will take it upon themselves to try and relive those memories or not move forward with their lives.

A good example I could us is by getting dumped by your girlfriend/boyfriend because you did something stupid and then decided to chase after said person to try and get them back because of all the good memories the two of you shared. What I believe you should do is take what you learned from that relationship and apply it to your new girlfriend/boyfriend without repeating what you did last time and don’t ever talk about your good memories you and your ex shared directly to your new girlfriend/boyfriend.

As I said before Nostalgia is a part of us and without it we wouldn’t be the people we are today. All I will say is enjoy and share your good memories with one another but don’t try and relive them.

Until next time