The Nostalgia Project

Nostalgia appears to be a pastime for the retired.  My retired brother and a retired friend have both been researching their ancestors and reviewing old photographs from childhood. I have received some rear-view mirror emails from my brother, with memories of events I can scarcely recall, myself, even though we shared a childhood.  How boring nostalgia once seemed to me, as I listened to the seemingly endless stories of relatives when I was a child.  The hardships of grandparents, parents, aunts, and uncles, with their nuggets of well-earned wisdom seemed like burdens we children had to bear.

Since my retirement, I've been perusing old journals, scanning old photographs, and have even begun a genealogy project with my brother.  We wanted to uncover the truth about a few unlikely ancestors and our heritage. That project has also uncovered some rather uncomfortable memories of our shared past.  If nostalgia unsettles me, should I just let it go?  Does reviewing one's past have any purpose whatsoever, beyond needling our youth?



In the New York Times, John Tierney wrote about the study of nostalgia, which was once considered an illness.  Dr. Constantine Sedikides, a clinical psychologist, has been researching the topic and has come to some surprising conclusions.  Rather than revealing that the nostalgic person was either depressed or lonely, as was commonly thought, it turns out that nostalgia serves purposes which are not necessarily indicative of a psychological problem.

"Nostalgia has been shown to counteract loneliness, boredom and anxiety. It makes people more generous to strangers and more tolerant of outsiders. Couples feel closer and look happier when they’re sharing nostalgic memories. On cold days, or in cold rooms, people use nostalgia to literally feel warmer.

Nostalgia does have its painful side — it’s a bittersweet emotion — but the net effect is to make life seem more meaningful and death less frightening. When people speak wistfully of the past, they typically become more optimistic and inspired about the future."

Also, surprisingly, people tend to "have a healthier sense of self-continuity if they nostalgize more frequently".

Another researcher's experiments, recounted in the same article, concluded that nostalgia:

“...brings to mind cherished experiences that assure us we are valued people who have meaningful lives. Some of our research shows that people who regularly engage in nostalgia are better at coping with concerns about death.” 

I had earlier concluded on my own that viewing the portal to death on the horizon was likely the reason I had spent hours re-reading those journals, reviewing the life I had lived in my youth, and squeezing the past to extract its meaning for my present and future life.

Reviewing the photographs my parents left after their deaths has also brought me a sense of connection, not only with my own past.  It's provided me with a new appreciation for those whom I'd never met, such as my father's parents and uncles.  That historical kinship came about through the Genealogy Project initially undertaken by my brother.  I've expanded that to include my trips down memory lane, in our shared past as well as my individual one.  I'm calling it The Nostalgia Project.

That Nostalgia Project isn't over.  Its process continues. And I will update this blog as I gain further insight.