Susan Liu

what is nostalgia?

is it the longing for a memory? is it the longing for a time? a place? a person? a feeling?

it’s a well known fact in neuroscience that once a memory is made, it is not robust and unstable. it’s susceptible to alterations and malleable to hindsight. so then, our memories are mere perceptions of a reality that may never be accessed again.

in this context, perhaps nostalgia gives us a unique power in accessing these amorphous memories. by letting us project our present, and our reality onto them, maybe we may glean new things, or gain new perspective.

so maybe nostalgia isn’t unidirectional or stagnant. maybe it’s a way to move forward