Driving down the highway, the ocean on one side, the mountains on the other. I have the windows open, music blasting. I pull off at my favorite spot, walk to the cliffs, and take in the view. It’s my favorite place to be. I haven’t been here in years. It feels so different, yet exactly the same. I can’t tell you why I love it, I just do. This place, is nostalgic to me.
Nostalgia is this funny thing. To some, they say it is living in the past. It is the reliving of the “good ole times.” But it is so much more than that. Nostalgia is one of the most powerful creative assets we can draw from to create some of the best things in whatever we do. It’s because it is emotional. Most of the time, all it takes is a song, a place, a smell, an object, and we are instantly transformed to another point in life. They are usually wonderful moments, but sometimes they aren’t just nostalgia, sometimes they are painful. But whether or not they are positive or negative, there is this feeling that overcomes the body in that moment. And it is an unbelievable tool that is often ignored as a way to elevate our human experience.
Towards the end of every year, I usually review footage that I have captured throughout my life. This year, I was behind. I had years of footage that I had not gone through. It also happened to be some of the most transformative and difficult years of my life. It was saying goodbye to my childhood home, moving three times in a year, relationship changes, professional challenges, and trying to find how to navigate a new chapter of life. When I was going through the footage from leaving my childhood home, it was wild. I think it is something I expected to just edit quickly but I found myself pausing and having so many flashbacks to moments in my life that shaped me into who I am today. I saw the first room that I had when I was a kid. It was empty in the footage but I could instantly see the race car bed that I thought was the coolest. It’s these little memories that don’t make me want to go backwards, but to see what nostalgia can do for me in moments where I are feeling a bit lost. It grounds me.
Right now, a lot of people my age are going through some pretty nostalgic moments. It’s the 90s coming back around. They say that fashion is cyclical and trends repeat themselves but in a slightly different way. This is one of the first times that I have been on the other end of it where I have lived through the trend when I was a kid and it is happening again. On one hand, it is fairly comical to see old VHS come back as “vintage” and “new” ads for companies adopt commercial styles from when I was a kid. On the other hand, it instantly reminds me of when things were actually much more simple like meeting your friends at a spot without knowing if they were going to show up and there was no way to reach them. When they did show, it was awesome and there was definitely the case of “you had to be there” because there was no way to relive it besides in the memories and the stories we shared. I think that nostalgia, no matter the generation, is a reminder of simplicity.
As we get older, there is a correlation between age and responsibilities. I remember when I was a kid, I couldn’t wait to be an adult because I thought it would be so cool. My parents always said to remain a kid as long as possible. Now I know exactly what they mean. I think one of the greatest gifts of nostalgia is the reminder of the simplicity of being younger. It is almost an anchor point to remind us that things were once different, we were once different. And that is a good thing.
I watched a lot of movies when I was younger and I remember there were always moments when the main character would look out, be thinking about a memory, and smile. I honestly thought it was just acting. I would think to myself that it was important to the story of the film but do people actually do that? Do they actually feel that? Today, I found myself looking out the window of an airplane, and a song came on, a Bob Dylan song. Instantly, I was transported. All I could feel was pure joy imagining the last time I heard that song and I was surrounded by my family in the morning, a huge smile on my face, and so much gratitude for getting to have that moment in life. When the song ended, I realized that I was sitting there, gazing off into the distance, smiling.
Nostalgia is something that I see as so powerful. It’s a way to reflect on life. The good times, the bad times, the lessons learned. But what can we do with our nostalgia besides what we see most of the time (products to buy and recreations of Disney movies)? When you go to create something, create from that place. But don’t do it as a carbon copy. Rather, use it as inspiration on something new, whatever it may be. I have always taken small snapshots in my mind throughout my life, moments that I will always cherish. You won’t notice it in my work, but you may feel it. And that is because in almost every piece of work that I create, whether it is for myself or for the world, is inspired by my life’s story. The best part, nostalgia is this super power that works hand in hand with creativity to create original works of art. So go out there, put on a song you haven’t listened to in a long time, go to place you haven’t been in years, and see what happens. If you are just going through life and something triggers a memory, go with it for a bit and see what happens. You may find yourself smiling.