Living in the past?

“Nostalgia is also a dangerous form of comparison. Think about how often we compare our lives to a memory that nostalgia has so completely edited that it never really existed.”  ~Brene Brown

Psychologists believe acute nostalgia is a symptom of growing old — but I’m not so sure that’s true. I’ve been nostalgic since I was a kid. I’ve always preferred old houses and items with a history, and I find comfort in rereading passages from favorite novels with nostalgic themes.

But I know there’s real danger in viewing the past through rose-colored lenses. We might long for a return to certain periods in history, assuming that life was somehow lovelier or safer. In these Memory Lane fantasies, it’s easy to forget that many life-saving medical advances hadn’t yet been made. And many people (including women) didn’t have the rights and privileges we have today.

When I was a kid in grade school, my family vacations revolved around visiting historic sites. I loved touring the homes of American heroes, including Paul Revere and George Washington, and often wished I could travel back to what I perceived to be a more romantic time. I was charmed by the notion of reading by candlelight and traveling in a horse-drawn carriage. Bringing me back to reality, my father reminded me that I wouldn’t have enjoyed using an outhouse or a chamber pot instead of a bathroom with modern plumbing. He was right.

How often do you find that a particular memory — your version of your own past — has been “edited” by nostalgia? ~CL