False nostalgia
Nostalgia is generally thought to be felt for a part of one’s own life that has passed and is later fondly recalled. But I sometimes feel something very like nostalgia for times and places and lives I never lived – not even close, in fact.
I wonder if others feel this too?
The Petshop Boys’ song Being Boring makes me nostalgic for the time I was a young, hopeful gay man in the 90s.
Re-reading Sisterhood is Powerful: An anthology of writings from the women’s liberation movement makes me nostalgic for the 70s, when I was a hardcore separatist feminist who had not yet discovered that she was white and middle-class.
And just lately watching the first episodes of Little House on the Prairie has made me nostalgic for a time in the late 1800s when I was the saintly and modest daughter of hardworking parents, building a humble but love-filled home in the American Midwest.
How is it that these imaginings feel so much like memories?
[...] but I do think they’re a fascinating idea because they can feel so real. I’ve written before about odd feelings exactly like nostalgia but for places and times I’ve never actually [...]
It’s a bit like deja vu, don’t you think? I get it about books I’ve read but I think that’s perhaps a sign to read another book set in that time period. I have really strong memories concerning past family members. Even ones I’ve never met. I seem to remember events, clothing, homes, etc. that I have no real connection with. Times I have reconstructed in my imagination from family stories or old photographs. It feels like being homesick. I could be a result of an overactive sence of empathy or as my daughter insists, a hint at past lives. Either way, I find it comforting to have a connection with the past. (I realize this post was a long time ago, but I just found you.)
It’s lovely to meet you Suzanne. I think the genealogy movement must build on just the kinds of feelings you describe. It seems to create such a strong sense of connection for people.
I’m not a believer in past lives (I don’t think…) but its an idea that I find so resonant – I can so *nearly* believe in it!
And yes, I so agree – these connections can be incredibly comforting.