I’ve been in trouble with my parents’ numerous times over the course of my life, but one of the worst ones had to do with me when I was 8 years old. It was 3 A.M. and I had just spent the last 6 hours playing on my Gameboy. When my parents saw me at breakfast with bloodshot eyes, they knew what I had just done. I got in a ton of trouble, but I had no regrets (at least in the future). I feel like those moments in my life is what defines who I am now. I recently picked the old game system back up and I spent a whole day playing my old games. As I move closer and closer to college, this sense of nostalgia made me feel like a kid again. To me, playing on my old Gameboy strengthened the sense of who I am and as a young adult, I believe it’s something that everyone else should experience. After watching Ted Talk by Clay Routledge I felt inspired to share and encourage nostalgia with others. You can watch the Ted Talk here.

In high school, we all know that people conform to fit in cliques and societal standards. As far as I can tell, this is the #1 source of stress for young adults around the globe. Even though the conformity and societal values pressure young adults to their breaking points, I still feel as if it is a core necessity in this world. If everyone was doing as they pleased, the world would be in shambles. I don’t know how other people relieve their stress, but I would find myself playing games that I played as a child. When I turned my Gameboy on, I felt myself go back in time and I felt like a child unbound by any rules or standards. 

Nostalgia obviously takes us to “the good old days,” but those days for me meant being a kid again, while not caring about the social standards that I’m held to today. Being a kid again was to be truly free. However, this is impossible now and the only way to invoke the feeling again is through nostalgia. Though most personal forms of nostalgia come out as positive memories, it can sometimes bring negative feelings back up to the surface. Since every moment defines us as a person, it is important to remember these bad memories, but to move forward as a stronger person is the one thing to take away from those memories. 

Though I experience most of my nostalgia through video games, that isn’t how other people experience their own senses of nostalgia. I encourage everyone to take some time out of their day and look for something that evokes a strong sense of nostalgia. Go ahead, listen to songs that you used to listen to, look at old pictures, or smell and taste food that you used to eat. Anything that makes you say, “This was the best!” or, “Oh, I remember this!” Try to go back and remember the things that made you happy as a child.

To learn more about the benefits of nostalgia you can check out more info here.