Here are five other benefits of nostalgia:
1. It can promote a sense of self
“If you look back fondly on memories that align with your values and morals, it can affirm movement toward those ideas,” says Woodhouse. “It would definitely increase the sense of self and motivate confidence.” She adds that often thinking about your old self reunites you with your values and what really matters to you.
2. It can serve as a barometer for personal growth
Nostalgia can also show you how far you’ve come. “Change doesn’t happen overnight,” says Woodhouse. “When we can draw on these positive experiences and reflect on our own growth, nostalgia can be a good barometer for assessing how we have remained aligned with our own values (which can change over time, and that’s okay) and with our authentic selves.”
She says looking back can help you see where you evolved and how you became who you are in the present.
3. It can improve mood
“This can allow a severely dysregulated person to calm down and use healthy coping mechanisms,” says Woodhouse. Remembering positive memories can shift emotions from negative to neutral — or even positive, says Woodhouse. After all, it’s common to feel a little energized when thinking about happy Little League memories or the satisfaction you felt eating your grandmother’s famous cherry pie when you were a child.
It also helps put our emotions into perspective by reminding us that good and bad times are temporary. We can lean on the good while knowing that the bad does not last forever.
4. It can help strengthen bonds with friends and family
And it works even if you’re complete strangers and connect through shared experiences from the past, like millennials retelling ’90s cartoons and dial-up connections, Woodhouse says. “Nostalgia can unify our experiences.”
5. It might make you more optimistic
Optimism is having the ability to think positively about the future, and remembering moments that made you feel brave, happy, successful, or any other positive emotion gives you an optimistic perspective to see the future through, says Woodhouse. “It can help us live each day to the fullest or even see the beauty in everyday life,” she says.
