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Nostalgia definition3/8/2023 ![]() But it’s also pretty momentous, considering that it continues to inhabit your thoughts, even after what could be decades later. D&D, Star Wars action figures, and comic books continue to shape my memories. Now think about your first memory. When I think about my first memories, so many of them revolve around my nerdy interests, toys, and activities. Never content with our present, we keep dipping into the well of our past, escaping into those familiar memories. Really, it’s not so much that humanity has run out of fresh ideas, it’s just that the old ones are safe money makers. By tapping into our emotions, nostalgia encourages us to buy a product from a moment in time when things seemed simpler and we thought we were happier. Nerdy brands understand this about nostalgia and pull our heartstrings in order to leverage our memories for profit. But mainly I share it to illustrate that nostalgia is something that has been a part of the human condition across all people, across all times. So I wanted to see if I could work that in there. ![]() First, no one ever reads Chronicles, unless they think it is The Chronicles of Narnia. And sorry for taking you to Sunday school, but I share that for two reasons. That passage in scripture of him defaulting back to what he felt were simpler times is pure nostalgia on David’s part. So in that uncertain, painful moment his greatest desire was a simple touchstone from his childhood. 1 Chronicles 11:17 reads, “ David said longingly, ‘O that someone would give me water to drink from the well of Bethlehem…'” The surrounding context of that passage was that David had grown up in Bethlehem but the present reality for David was pretty crummy and his future looked uncertain. There is an interesting story in the Hebrew Bible. It’s equal part genuine affection and equal part subconscious coping mechanism. So with the painful parts of the memories trimmed away, nostalgia allows us to return home to what we perceive as a simpler time. It’s like 1d8 damage to our psyche otherwise. But even when we are asked to remember mostly happy memories, we necessarily trim away anything that could be painful. Some memories such as the nerdy things we played with as a kid are often purely happy ones. The word nostalgia comes from two Greek words nostos, meaning “to return home,” and algos, meaning “pain.” So nostalgia means to return home to our pain? Evidently, if folks can’t soak in nostalgia, they’d rather spend their time stewing and fuming with disappointment at the present they inhabit. People are drawn to negative headlines like Mothra to a flame. Interestingly, our second most popular posts are when folks suspect we dislike something. When Nerds on Earth presses that nostalgia lever, folks line up for their peanut. Nostalgia works on us nerds like labs rats. When I share my favorite arcade cabinets, reflect on Claremont X-Men, or write-up my favorite old school D&D modules, those posts get likes and shares far beyond anything else we do. Our most popular posts on Nerds on Earth are our nostalgia ones.
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