Comments on: Exploring Anemoia: Nostalgia for a Time You’ve Never Known

By: Whitney

Whitney — Mon, 02 Aug 2021 19:43:24 +0000

Thanks for this post Ronan! I find myself very melancholic and nostalgic, more often than not. My nostalgic memories are not of my own life or my own experiences per say. It is linked to what I think times were like during a certain period of life. In more concise terms, a simpler time. For instance, I was born in 1987 but I often long to be alive in a time like the 1970s. Well, at least those times from movies and TV shows I have watched. When I am walking in neighborhoods near my apartment, I see long, brick, one-story houses, row-houses and builder’s sheds. These images are enough to spark nostalgia in me. Big sprawling elm and maple trees make me think of a simpler time in a place like the Midwest. Since my mom was a child/teenager of the 70s, we watched and listened to lots of 70s tv and radio. Groups like Boston, the Eagles and Styx and movies like the original 1978 version of Halloween. This is one of my favorite movies. It encompasses the perfect Midwestern town in Illinois. Walking to school. Halloween in suburbia. Babysitting. The leaves are Fall colored orange and the air is crisp. When these thoughts popup in my mind, I feel happy until I remember that it is a time, we can never go back to as a society. A time before cellphones, laptops, cable, 24-hour news cycles, COVID. Then I get sad when I realize that this is the reality I have to live in. I haven’t determined what this means to me psychologically but it is incredibly interesting

I’m glad I’m not the only one!

By: Hope

Hope — Mon, 07 Jun 2021 20:19:46 +0000

Today I turned 46. I have an overwhelming desire to listen to music from the 1920’s and 1930’s. I have no connection to this music but it is where my soul wants to be today and I am very much experiencing Saudade. However, I also experience this when I read or watch anything from the same era. Not to be too…left of center…with my thoughts, but I always wonder if there isn’t something in me that is left over from that era.

By: Ronan

Ronan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 08:53:11 +0000

In reply to Mattia.

Thanks for your comment, Mattia. That’s a really interesting point you raised about why certain cultures felt the need to create words for this complex emotion while others haven’t.

By: Ronan

Ronan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 08:46:34 +0000

In reply to Inara.

Hi Inara,

Thank you for your comment. Bangkok is a city that is close to my heart; I spent a lot of time there in my 20s. A truly vibrant city full of amazing food. I can understand why you miss it; I miss it too! Hopefully, when Covid ends we can get back there! Glad my article resonated with you. 🙂

By: Ronan

Ronan — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 08:44:25 +0000

In reply to JJ OKS.

Thanks for your kind words. It’s nice to see the article resonated with people…I thought I was somewhat shouting into the void when writing it ha.

By: JJ OKS

JJ OKS — Mon, 26 Apr 2021 00:06:56 +0000

Awseome article Ronan, I can completely relate!

By: Heri

Heri — Thu, 22 Apr 2021 18:51:57 +0000

This song really makes me feel that kind of beautifull feeling

https://youtu.be/naV2N1K0A3g

By: Mattia

Mattia — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 17:10:33 +0000

Hi Ronan, i stumbled upon your post while researching for nostalgia in music and it resonated hard with me.
Nostalgia sure is crazy, we both shared memories of a place we’ve never been to and we grew up in different places and cultures (I’m Italian).
Thanks for the trip down memory lane, the words you found are great examples of the feeling we have while thinking about things past. I also feel a lot of nostalgia for genres like City Pop and Synthwave, go figure.
Anyway, Italian too lacks a proper term for this feeling, and then makes me wonder why certain cultures felt the need to explain this feeling through a proper term while others did not.

By: Inara

Inara — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 00:46:34 +0000

Hi there, greetings from Mongolia! I woke up this morning feeling this pang of “nostalgia” except nostalgia wasn’t the right term for whatever I was feeling. I listened to a couple of Honne’s music and got even more melancholic.
I celebrated my birthday last year in Bangkok, my first ever solo-trip. It was a city so vibrant, so full of life, and I was absolutely enamored with it. I had the luxury of staying there for 2 weeks or so. This morning was the lowest I felt because I missed Bangkok so much even though I was there for such a short time. I missed the moments I would’ve created if I had stayed there longer. Saudade definitely feels like the right word to describe my current state of mind. Thank you so much for posting this, I feel so relieved that there’s actually a word I can now use to describe this peculiar feeling I get from time to time. Cheers!

By: Rose

Rose — Fri, 11 Dec 2020 06:58:04 +0000

I didn’t know this was something many people experienced. Similarly, I also feel nostalgia for the 80s and early 90s. Most of Stan Meissner’s song put me into this mood. Also, watching old Lifetime movies. It makes me feel calm, but also melancholy sometimes. It is the feeling of walking in a calm forest or park in fall.

I think I feel nostalgia for the 80s and early 90s because it was a simpler time. People interacted. The world seemed safer. I grew up at that time where technology was rapidly changing. I experienced multiple forms of it, some which are obsolete now. I don’t mind technology, but I wish there was still a balance. The world quickly shifted. I think that is why I feel nostalgic for the 80s and early 90s. Of course, I’m thinking mainly about the good. There were a lot of hardships then too.