“The Greek word for “return” is nostos. Algos means “suffering.” So nostalgia is the suffering caused by an unappeased yearning to return.” – Milan Kundera
I am a sucker for nostalgia and I know many of my peers are the same way. It comes in waves and comes in different ways. When I think of nostalgia, the thing that comes to mind are childhood movies/shows and video games I used to play. Whenever a SpongeBob episode comes on, I’m sucked in but I don’t know if that’s nostalgia because that show is still funny to me. Then again that in itself could be the nostalgia but I just think that show aged well, that show can still be enjoyed by children today. I think nostalgia is more of a show like Power Rangers that really doesn’t age well but I’d still watch it for the childhood memories.
I’ve noticed it really makes a big difference with video games. For example, my friends used to play Mario games (specifically Super Mario 64) as kids and I didn’t. When remastered versions of those games came out, I was excited to try it out but it just really didn’t interest me. It was glitchy, not great graphics and difficult but they all loved it. Why? It was pure nostalgia for them, living through their childhood memories. For me, it didn’t mean anything and it was just a pain in the ass to play so I stopped. The same thing happened but the opposite way for games I used to play as a kid, Spyro and SpongeBob the battle for bikini bottom. I loved these games as a kid and when they were remastered, I couldn’t put them down. I told my friends they had to play it but anyone who didn’t play it as a kid just didn’t care for it as much. This is what helped me realize that, yes we want to share those memories with our current friends but at the same time, you can’t always share memories that they didn’t have unfortunately. This is why some people will still play the original Mario Kart (Nintendo) and others will play Crash Team Racing (PlayStation) instead, it’s not about which game or console, movie or show was better, it’s about the memories you had as a adolescent, now trying to relive as an adult.
It’s a very interesting phenomenon and I can’t get enough of it.. or can I? I realized this was the reason I was holding onto certain objects like my PlayStation 3 console and Pokémon cards. It’s something I am slowly getting better with, in relation to objects, thanks to decluttering and becoming more minimalistic. I hope to keep up the progress as it is this type of thinking that will help me live a more meaningful life, with less focus on things and more of a focus on the stuff that matters.
Item 116 of 360+
Today’s item is a truck tent with no truck. Earlier in the year I sold my truck and still had my truck tent laying around. I don’t think this was nostalgia, this was one of those items I knew was going to be a pain in the butt to sell. I plan on posting it up on Facebook marketplace shortly to try to get some money back on it. It was a great tent while the truck fun lasted but i’ll be happier sleeping on the ground with less worries about big vehicle bills. We are very excited to camp again, the weather is slowly getting better and camping will be right around the corner!
Minimalism Everyday 