a love letter to nostalgia, but not really

 My friend Ash just wrote a really nice blog about nostalgia, and it made me wonder what I think of it. Nostalgia is more apart of my life than I have ever realized, and more so now than ever before. I find myself thinking of old friends who I haven't met, or even talked to, in years. Why do I spend time looking through old playlists from middle school, reminiscing on what once was, what could have been? My opinion is that it's an escape from my current world. High school isn't an easy world to navigate, with all the pressure that's placed on teenagers shoulders, it's not crazy to think they'd want somewhere in their mind that they consider safe. For a lot of people, this can be found in the past, when life was simpler. In reality, though, we all had our own struggles back then too, and at the time, it felt very hard. In fact, if you asked me 3 years ago, I'd say that I would never feel nostalgic about this time in my life. My friend Ash used an article in her blog, so I'll do the same. I found a National Geographic article that helped explain the idea of nostalgia and the human mind, it says, "But nostalgia doesn’t just scratch our itch to feel cozy and comforted, it also helps us to process our current situation,". This was something I hadn't thought about earlier, but it does make sense when you think about it. Going back in time and re-living past experiences helps you understand who you are, who you used to be, and what actions you should take going forward. Do I think it's healthy to be nostalgic 24/7? Most definitely not. Although National Geographic says, "Yang and her research colleagues have recently found that nostalgia can reduce our perception of pain and enhance our ability to detect threats. They found that compared to control subjects, subjects thinking about something nostalgic had more brain activity when reading threatening words,". Regardless of what national geographic says, living in the past is not healthy, though I'm really not one to talk. I think it's a great tool, whether it's for escaping reality, or to learn from mistakes and move forward, it really can help. It is not, however, something someone should bask in daily. Learning to accept the past is the past and you must move forward is what also makes life beautiful.