Seasons that leave you Nostalgic for your Childhood

Seasons have a special way of leaving you nostalgic for your childhood. Summer, reminding you of visits to the swimming pool. Fall, reminding you of how you used to jump in leaf piles. Winter, reminding you of making your first snowman. Spring, bringing you back to splashing in puddles. In each season, children find a way to embrace it. As we get older, we forget the simplicity. At the same time seasons make us feel nostalgic towards the times where it was simpler. To a degree, children embrace change. They are more flexible to it and have wider imaginations. As you become an adult, you become more resistant to change. You forget to indulge in simple childlike wonders. 

A lot of people are particularly nostalgic for summer. People love the summer heat and pulling out the t-shirts and swimsuits. It is a time full of camping, summer camps and family trips. People are also nostalgic for ice cream, cottages, lake swimming and so forth. Personally, I’m very nostalgic for winter. Being French Canadian and having lived in Ottawa and Montreal, I grew up around many winter festivities like Bonhomme de Neige and Winterlude. 

I grew skating on the Canal, occasionally going skiing with my Uncle’s family and eating lots of beverages. My family embraced winter as much as I did. We loved playing in the snow, going tobogganing and snow shoeing. To this day, I love to play in the snow and throw a good snowball. I remember so many snow days as a child, especially living in Montreal. Winter will always leave me nostalgic for those days where I could play in the snow all day.

I feel as though seasons connect adults to the days when their imagination was wide, the possibilities seemingly endless. Adults experience seasonal nostalgia because it reminds them of when they had imagination and they made things fun. Adults long to go back to a time where everything was an adventure. The seasons change connects you to your inner child. 

What seasons make people feel more nostalgic and why? I feel as though winter and summer make people feel nostalgic the most -- winter because of all the festivities and summer because of all the travel. No matter the season, we experience nostalgia. When the seasons change, do not forget to indulge in it and live in the moments, and the childlike experiences that leave you forever reminiscent. 

What seasons leave you feeling nostalgic? What childhood memories do you have associated with them? Leave a comment below and do not forget to go and make a snowman with your best friend!

Nostalgic Foods

Have you ever thought about what makes our favorite foods our favorite? I believe a factor in determining our favorite foods are the memories we attach to them. I think nostalgia influences us in what foods are our favorite. We all have fond childhood memories of eating our favorite snacks. I remember loving foods like Pogos, Kraft Dinner, Pizza Pockets and Lucky Charms. I know I’m not alone in indulging in these snacks! Even today, I continue to carry a soft spot for these foods – there's nothing special about it except I used to enjoy them as a kid.

Sometimes certain foods can leave specific memories and impact our taste for them. There's a particular food I discovered at a young age that has always given me fond memories. I used to enjoy receiving poutine as a treat, and still do. My family is French and for a time I lived in Montreal. I remember first having poutine there with a friend and I fell in love with all its cheesy goodness. It reminds me of my French background and is something that always reminds me fondly of Quebec. Memories of foods shape the way we perceive and think of them.

I think our favorite foods are more about the memories we associate them with. The experience of eating is more impactful to how you feel about the food. For example, the atmosphere greatly influences the memories we associate with our food. Atmosphere is used to create experience and memories. That is why food tastes better at a restaurant, because they make it an experience. This associates memories with the food and it's the overall memory that leaves you nostalgic.

Nostalgic foods give you a sense of comfort. They give you a warm fuzzy feeling and make you feel like you're reliving your childhood. They can bring back memories and leave you feeling content. People buy these foods to make them feel a certain way. Nostalgia influences the foods people buy. When I started grocery shopping for myself, the first thing I wanted to buy was all my comfort foods. It was the first time living on my own and they made me feel warm inside and reassured. 

I also think the smell of foods can also leave us very nostalgic. I know when I smell a McDonald’s it brings me back to my childhood. All you need is the smell of these foods and you're left with all the nostalgia and wanting more. Scent is a part of the experience of food and helps create memory of these foods and how they make you feel. Smells of food are everywhere and constantly giving you nostalgia. In combination with the food a nostalgic experience is created.

We center our food on sharing and creating memories. When we get together with people it often involves  food. Holidays are all about the food and the memories that are created by sharing food. Nostalgia and food go hand in hand. Whether it's the specific memories and feelings they bring up or the people we share it with, food creates memories. 

What memories do certain foods bring up for you? What foods make you nostalgic? How do they make you feel? Leave a comment below!

The Places That Leave us Nostalgic

I recently visited a place that has always been very nostalgic for me. I did an outdoor learning program in my youth that was an extracurricular school program. It was a program that greatly shaped who I am today because of the experiences, the friends I made and the values of the program itself -- therefore leaving a nostalgic place in my heart. A friend of mine who also participated in this program reached out to me to return to camp, so we could experience nostalgia. I have fond memories of my friend and I giggling and sharing gossip in the forest while I was supposed to be doing school!

I was immediately fond of this idea as I haven’t returned for seven years. Just anticipating being back, a flood of sweet memories returned. We drove out with anticipation. When we arrived, we found that it was now abandoned and there were “no trespassing” signs preventing us from going further. It made me realize that the places that leave us nostalgic are most likely never the same as they once were. A place I was expecting to leave me with sentimental feelings instead just looked sad and dreary as the paint on the cabins were rusting and the cabins just looked damaged.

It's not what it once was. My friend and I reminisced about funny memories, but it also made us sad to think it wasn’t the same anymore. Have you ever visited somewhere nostalgic and felt as if it's not the same as you remembered? Why is this? Is it perhaps because we romanticize our memories? Is it because we change and when we return it's different? Memories are never the same as what actually happened because they’re your perception of things. How you remember things changes over time, as well as the feelings you associate with them.

So, is how you remember experiences ever really how they are? It can be hard to return somewhere that you experienced such life altering experiences, only to realize it's all different from how you remembered it. Many of you probably experienced this. It's like when you go back to your old high school or somewhere you used to work and it's not the same. It can feel like some of your memories died with it. The places that leave us nostalgic are comfortable but are also bittersweet. 

What Brings us Back?

Why do we feel the need to return to these places? I feel we often want to return because it gives the feeling that we can bring back the past. Like we can go back to the way it all was without physically doing so. It gives the illusion that we're there, reliving our former experiences for the first time again. We eventually realize, however, that this isn’t possible. We want to remember the experiences that shaped us – it is a source of comfort. We want to look back on who we were then and who we are now.

What is it that makes us keep coming back? I think we go back because we want to hold on to whatever it is we can. We do not want to let go. Almost like if we did not go back, we could lose grip of these memories. Like they hold them sanctum and when you go back you unlock all the feelings again. These places help us remember who we are,  almost becoming a part of our identity. 

What kinds of experiences do we have that make us want to go back? I think there's many different kinds of experiences we can have that make us want to go back. They can be transitional experiences that make us who we are today. Perhaps it was a place where you made life changing connections, or it was somewhere that positively influenced you. These experiences made an impact, making us want to relive the past. What places leave you nostalgic? What experiences would you relive? Follow us on our Twitter and Facebook and leave a comment below!

Moved on But Not Forgotten

It seems as though the younger generations have a nostalgia for times they have not lived in. People today are nostalgic for vintage cars, technology like Polaroids. Records and dated hairstyles are making a comeback. Young people today in particular seem to be really into the 90’s. Teens are now decorating their bags and laptops with stickers and badges – something that was very popular in that time period. Adding to that, they are even wearing friendship bracelets and scrunchies. 

As for myself, I am very nostalgic about the type of clothing people wore in the 1950’s. I have collected quite a few long skirts and dress coats in my wardrobe that I wear from time to time. Where does this nostalgia come from? If these younger generations did not live in these era’s, why the nostalgia? I certainly did not live through the 50’s, and yet I feel a connection to it. I think people are nostalgic for simpler times. There is a sense of sentimental longing. People simply long for times that are not their own. They romanticize the idea. 

People like comfort and familiarity. It is no wonder that other eras are always making a comeback, especially in a world that is so complex. People often assume things were easier in the past. There is also uncertainty and mystery about the future, and it can bother some people.

Over the years, the patterns in fashion and trends are always making a comeback. It seems each new trend has some remants of past decades. Newsbreak.com predicts  that 70’s fashion will make a comeback in 2020. 

What makes these eras nostalgic? 

I believe the 90’s are so nostalgic to millennials because they were just being born at this time. Eras are generally nostalgic because people idealize the past. It impacts us greatly; it influences our style, memories as well as our future. It impacts how we think of today.

I believe that millennials are the most nostalgic generation and are the ones bringing back the past the most. There is an allure to times otherwise not experienced. Does nostalgia leave us trapped in the past? Does it inhibit us from moving on? I think it definitely could. One might say constantly having nostalgia for a generation not living in ourselves prohibits us from enjoying and experiencing what we have right now. I think this could be very true but nostalgia also reminds us of what we have right now as well. 

I think it is good because it connects us to the past and makes it a part of the future. The future would not be the future without connecting us to the past. Nostalgia unites us. It is how we relate to each other.  

What eras do you think will make a comeback? What eras leave you nostalgic for the past? Leave a comment below. If you’re interested in the trends that are making a comeback, check out this article by Little Things.

https://www.littlethings.com/20-vintage-fashion-trends-that-have-made-a-comeback

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Josée Leclair

I am a Creative Writing student at Algonquin College. In my spare time, I like to read, knit, and watch lots of YouTube! :)