“I can’t wait to grow up “ is a phrase that many people have said or thought throughout their childhood little did they know in the future they’d wish they could go back to that moment in time and cherish it.

Nostalgia is a sentimental longing or wishful affection for the past, this is a feeling that everyone has felt in their life. It is a bittersweet feeling where on one hand you feel warmth and gratitude on the other hand it can come with sadness and longing knowing you can’t go back to that moment or time.And you never will no matter how hard you try to go back and feel how you felt.

“Sometimes you will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”-Dr Seuss

There are so many times where you could feel annoyed or bored not knowing that in months or years you would do anything to go back to that moment. Let me give an example whenever your kid won’t stop crying and screaming you’re going to feel annoyed and frustrated but ,whenever you get older you’ll be sitting alone by the phone waiting for the weekly call you get from your children wishing you could go back to hearing their voice and them attached to your hip. Or personally I can say that when I was younger my sisters would annoy me all the time but now that they’re off in college I miss getting told we look alike or the little things they would do like leaving my door open or playing freeze tag.

“I spent my whole childhood wishing I was older and now I’m spending my adulthood wishing I was younger “-Ricky Schroder

As kids all we wanted to do was grow up already, have no rules, never be told “ you’re too young for it “ or “You wouldn’t understand you’re too young”  . But as each year went on you realized how good you had it , your main stress in life was having to eat another veggie before your desert. When we were kids we had this idea that the more we grow up the less rules and consequences we would have.However Growing up doesn’t mean you can do anything if anything it means that you have to do everything right ,be responsible , follow the rules because now you’re looked upon as “an example to follow” and you have to be a “good influence”.

“If you carry your childhood with you, you never get older” – Tom Stoppard

Yes nostalgia can come with the feelings of longing and sadness , however you have to remind yourself there’s no way you can go back to that moment. It’s completely normal to remember moments and cherish them but you shouldn’t let those memories negatively affect your mood. If you are stuck in the past you’ll be too wrapped up in it and forget to cherish the memories you’re making right now . Try and remind yourself to be grateful for the little things because in the future they might not be that little to you instead just something or someone you’re reminiscing on.

“Cherish every moment with those you love at every stage of your journey” – Jack Layton

Time is such a gift, which personally I think it’s the most forgotten one . When asked “ what are you grateful for “ a lot of people say their friends and family but they never think to be grateful for the time that they’ve gotten to spend with them. Anything could happen tomorrow to yourself and or the people around you. So you need to spend the time you have wisely so in the future you’re not looking back and having regrets on how you were acting or what you were doing . You want to try and not have any regrets when looking back on the past because everything happens for a reason and everything that has happened made you who you are today. When feeling nostalgic about something, don’t let the longing for that memory turn into sadness. Instead, think about the positive memories and lessons you’ve learned from that person or that place. Yes there are moments where I want to go back to my childhood and when life was so easy but I just need to remind myself that it was a time period in the past and I need to be more grateful for this time of my life because in years I’ll be reminiscing about it without even knowing.