What is nostalgia? Why do we have it? Defined by Oxford Languages, nostalgia is “a sentimental longing or wistful affection for the past, typically for a period or place with happy personal associations.” This may be the dictionary definition, but what does nostalgia actually look like? Nostalgia often occurs when a person relates something back to a bittersweet moment from their past; this can include objects, places, sounds, smells, or even feelings. Studies have shown that nostalgia can have numerous positive impacts on a person’s mental health and overall well-being. It’s often evoked during times of grieving, especially after the loss of a loved one. Nostalgia can be a healthy way to process negative emotions regarding losses by providing a sense of familiarity.

Many people seek out opportunities for nostalgia without even realizing it. Going back to and visiting places or participating in activities one did as a child are prime examples of things someone may subconsciously do. This is because these activities often trigger fond memories associated with happiness and remembrance. For example, the smell and taste of baking and eating certain foods during childhood can allow families to reminisce on their fun moments.

Greg Jones ‘27 recalls a memory he often gets nostalgic about, stating, “when I was little we used to go to the aquarium all the time and there’s this one little spot cut out of the wall and had a little glass viewing of the aquarium. I would always go and sit there for as long as I could.” He describes what brings up these nostalgic feelings and brings him back to those days spent observing the aquarium. “Anytime I see fish,” Jones says.

Another common way people experience nostalgia is through music. Listening to songs played frequently at different times of one’s life can stimulate emotions and feelings associated with them. While nostalgia is an overall happy feeling, it can also contain hints of sadness. Looking back at memories can be upsetting as letting things go can be difficult. Nostalgia allows one to feel, which in doing so allows them to fully move on. Even little things that evoke nostalgia are helpful during times of major life change, which give people that comforting sense of familiarity. Overall, nostalgia is a powerful, complex emotion actively felt throughout a person’s lifetime.

As time passes in one’s life, the pervasive presence of nostalgia grows stronger when the roots of beloved memories begin to fade. There is an innate, human yearning to return to the simpler joys of youth; a yearning that evokes both fondness and melancholia. The older we get, the more we desire our youth and idealize the memories fortifying the past—an anecdote illuminated by the focus of this year’s senior speeches. For the Class of 2025, nostalgia has become an integral part of the wisdom that the senior class intends to impart to the student body, largely evidenced by the abundance of speeches revolving around the feeling. Thus far, speeches have consisted of benefits regarding reflection, such as returning to youthful glee and freedoms; however, excessive harping on nostalgia fosters the potential for obsessive desires from years previous. Is, then, nostalgia invasive or inspiring?

Unsurprisingly, nostalgia can be both a productive tool to improve one’s outlook on life and hold the potential to detract from present reality and toward childhood. Kamiyah Walton ‘26 states that nostalgia serves her in differing ways, firstly expressing: “I would say it motivates me to enjoy good moments in life”; however, Walton also states that nostalgia in excess can be harmful, “When it makes me sad [it’s] when I reminisce too much on my childhood.” For Walton, nostalgia can inspire her to use nostalgia as a guide for her current actions and interpretation of the world surrounding her, yet over-abundant nostalgia can inhibit the momentum of the now, turning the mood sour.

Rhea Balachandran ‘26 corroborates Walton’s simultaneous feeling towards nostalgia, “It helps me to connect with other people [but] when I feel like I want to be a kid again, I’m reminded I never will be.” Balachandran’s insightful statement is anything but incorrect: people stuck in the past are constantly reminded that an aged reality no longer exists externally; only within a jaded mind can recollections and reflections of the past be found. These memories will be inherently tainted with newfound experiences; old remembrances no longer feel new.  And yet, despite the potential for painful feelings of a lost childhood, Huang embraces reminiscence completely, going as far to say that the transformative nature of nostalgia does not feel inhibiting, “when I think about my childhood memories, it takes me to a completely different place, back in Wisconsin. I had a lot of fun in Wisconsin… so I wouldn’t say I’ve had negative experiences with it.” Huang utilizes these experiences to elicit thoughts of “good time[s] in your life because things definitely get a bit tougher when you get older.” Huang feels as if nostalgia has always felt reliable and comforting, even whisking him to Wisconsin. Huang’s past experiences continually inspire him—whether appreciating adaptation to moving at a young age or simply reminiscing about past experiences, Huang finds nostalgia to be bountiful in totality.

Nostalgia (even in excess) serves to become a guiding force that aids the pathway of the future. Although one can become enveloped in a lost childhood, a moderate appreciation of our childhood can illustrate what we have loved since our earliest memories. Nostalgia has the potential to consult with our old selves, to ask if our actions feel true to the purest versions of ourselves.