Let’s say you are digging through old boxes in your attic and come across a particular box labeled “toys.” Curious, you open it to discover the plethora of toys from your childhood. As you glance at them all, you begin to reminisce about yourself as a child playing with your toys. As you do so, you begin to feel a strange, warm and comforting feeling: nostalgia.
Nostalgia is the sentimental longing for one’s past acquired through the senses. From the smell of mom’s homemade cookies to hearing your dad read that one children’s book to you every night, this phenomenon of a feeling is not uncommon and it instills a positive impact on one’s mental health. Nostalgia “is an important psychological resource that helps individuals cope with life’s stressors, build strong relationships, find and maintain meaning in life, and become more creative and inspired,” states psychologist Dr. Clay Routledge in the Harvard Business Review. Routledge states that nostalgia “tends to follow a redemptive sequence in which negative feelings such as longing and loss give way to positive feelings such as happiness, social connectedness, gratitude, and hope. In other words, nostalgia is bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter.”
So what could be the most nostalgic aspect of childhood? To find my answer, I made a poll for the girls of SSA to decide which of six specific aspects of childhood triggers the least to the most nostalgia. The results are as follows:
Given the data from the least to greatest, food scored a total of 25 votes, storybooks acquired 31 votes, games reached 35 votes, music obtained 48 votes, toys ended with 56 votes, and movies gained the highest with 66 votes.
While it is evident which category is the least to most nostalgic, what exactly did the girls of SSA say was specific to each of the six categories? Well, let’s take a stroll down memory lane and find out!
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