Nostalgia Is Like Feeling An Absence With You
The feeling of nostalgia is so common that sometimes it starts to feel like something inherent, something that is part of who we are. This is because it is a sensation that almost anyone can identify. As humans, we live with nostalgia as something we carry on our backs. We walk with it, we dance with it, we embrace it in difficult moments. It’s as if on those days that are the hardest and we can’t see clearly, we can see everything better through our nostalgia.
We feel nostalgia for relationships, past times in our lives, things we used to have that are no longer there, that we may wish were still there for us. We also feel this sense of longing for our present, which isn’t exactly how we might have planned it, or for something that never happened. We are made of moments, of details, of hugs, of words… No doubt this feeling is so real that it feels like we are embodying it ourselves and that is why it can influence us so strongly.
Sometimes our nostalgia feels so great that we become it
It has been said that our past is like a foreign land from which we have been exiled. So, just like a person who has suffered exile and feels cold and expelled, sometimes we want to return to the comfort and warmth. In this sense, this figurative banishment can be very distant, but at the same time it exists in the present.
Nostalgia, wanting to go back in time, is our attempt to understand who we are based on. This does not mean that we do not want to live in the present or that we do not enjoy our present life, but rather that we recognize ourselves and are aware of our past and what we have experienced.
As this Portuguese writer says, we experience this feeling when we miss something small and seemingly insignificant, but it becomes part of who we are. This little thing, seen through this lens, is an absence. When we see and feel it through that lens, we need it with all of our being. That’s why we become our nostalgia. Just like in love, we can’t feel it half-heartedly. It accompanies us in all our words, all our thoughts and all our gestures.
The two faces of nostalgia
The truth about this strong emotion, like so many things in life, is that it has two faces. When we hear the word itself, we immediately understand that we are talking about something that is sad and sweet at the same time.
For example, missing our family, friends or ex-partner means feeling temporarily unprotected, but at the same time it’s like an embrace when that absence is the same as knowing who we have and who we really want with us.
It is true that we often feel nostalgia, even more so when we find ourselves in certain difficult times of the year. However, it is courageous to recognize and understand that nostalgia is the absence of anything in life that is or was worth having or experiencing. It is the absence of something that is or was beautiful, something that brought happiness into our lives.
This is a brave act, because that absence can be permanent. In that case, although it may be difficult, we must learn to see nostalgia as the price of the most beautiful things in life. We will never have this feeling without having felt the certainty of true happiness.
In addition to all of this, we need to let this sense of nostalgia fill us, engage with the world, and show us that we’re really alive, whatever the consequences may be.
