Nichelle Rodriguez Week #15 - Nostalgia Is a Thief

Time tends to have an unsettling effect on even the happiest of memories. The shrill of recorders, my strawberry scented hand sanitizer from second grade, a yearbook full of signatures from people I barely talk to now. All these things once enveloped me with a warm sense of joy and familiarity, but now, seem to only be met with a coldness that creeps up from my chest—nostalgia.


Nostalgia has often been described as a bittersweet emotion, but I find that it has always been more parts bitter than sweet for me. Nostalgia feels like a large cup of unsweetened black coffee; with just too little sugar to mask the earthy bitterness. Memories become so tinged with nostalgia as time passes and the circumstances you find yourself in change. Nostalgia lures one in, keeping them captive and unaware of how much has changed while they have been lost in the memory lanes of their mind.


I do not think I will ever be able to look upon nostalgia kindly; not after all the moments it has stolen from me as my longing for the past made me blind to how good it is to be alive now. Not how good it was to be alive in 2015, not how good it was to be alive as a toddler walking into daycare, not how good it was to be alive as someone’s favorite person; how good it is to be alive right now. To be able to see things unfold in front of you, new things that may feel like charting unfamiliar territory, but memories that are just as important as those from seven years ago.


Nostalgia should never become anything more than a passing thought. Being consumed by it allows for you to let your life slip by you, to let the present lose its importance, lose its luster in the face of the past. To live in the moment is a gift.

Comments

  1. Mridula AnandApril 30, 2025 at 12:43 PM

    Hello Nichelle,
    I really like how you chose to center your blog around a vital aspect of memory, which is nostalgia itself. I also enjoy seeing the similarities between your blog and the blogs of others, because in the background of each of those blogs is also the concept of nostalgia and looking back at our past. I believe, as you said, that it is sort of a human tendency to look back at our past and loom on those memories rather than focusing on the present and creating more memories. Nostalgia is indeed bittersweet as well, since some of our memories from the past may be enjoyable while others might not be as enjoyable, and a combination of all different types of memories lets us experience different types of emotions, creating that bittersweet feeling like you said. Other than your blog and the ideas that exist within it, I really like another aspect that others may be prone to overlooking. The picture in your blog is very interesting and unique, as it depicts a girl with fairy wings who is facing the other way around. I do not know if this was the intention of the picture, but I really like how that kind of conveys to us that our old self, filled with innocence, will always be available to look at, but should not be very involved in our present lives.

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  2. SabiKatApril 30, 2025 at 8:30 PM

    Hi Nichelle! First of all, this is a topic I really relate to. I often find myself being nostalgic at the smallest things, like an old photo, smell, or even outfit. Time snatches away our best experiences, leaving us only with the bittersweet nostalgia--which, like you said, is more bitter than sweet. The mention of a yearbook with past friends' signatures triggering nostalgia was a great example and super relatable, bringing on memories of my 8th grade yearbook filled with the signatures of people I don't talk to anymore. Your metaphor likening nostalgia to "unsweetened black coffee" was a great fit and really brought your point across. The perspective you showed of nostalgia not simply creating sadness for the past but also taking away from the present really made me consider how nostalgia has affected my present-day life. To be stuck on the past is to be unable to move on to the present, and your blog honestly made me realize the importance of moving on. I really loved your writing, and I hope I get to read more in the future!

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  3. Francis GarciaApril 30, 2025 at 8:38 PM

    “All these things once enveloped me with a warm sense of joy and familiarity, but now, seem to only be met with a coldness that creeps up from my chest.” Hi Nichelle, I cannot help but think about this very line you just wrote. It summed up what nostalgia is in the best way possible. It’s warm, but it’s cold. It’s loving, but it’s harsh. It’s welcoming, but it’s brutal. Like you said, nostalgia tastes like a “large cup of unsweetened black coffee”; however, I respectfully disagree because nostalgia can be however you want it to be depending on how you approach it and welcome it. Personally, I add a sugar cube or two to round out the bitterness of my cup of black coffee because I always live by the belief that what comes up goes around and comes back down, and that both bad and good things neutralize each other and come to life at their own times. Even when the bad things take place more frequently in the current period, I make an effort to hold onto the belief that good things of that amount are sure to follow—whether it is the sun shining for a day after a night of rain or an A+ on my test after getting an F on the previous one. In the end, it all comes down to being in the present, for like you said, “[t]o living in the moment is a gift.” Thank you for this very thought-provoking blog post, Nichelle, and I look forward to your next one! Or will it be our last for the school year…?

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  4. Hariharan SenthilkumarApril 30, 2025 at 9:20 PM

    Hi Nichelle! I think your perspective on nostalgia is incredibly unique. Other people on this blog have talked about nostalgia, including myself, and whenever we do, we generally refer to it as a positive thing. Nostalgia for me is looking through a rose-tinted glass, remiscing about the past, and feeling as though it was better, even if that's not the case. However, in this post, you talk about how nostalgia is an emotion with a bitter aftertaste, an emotion that reminds you not of the beauty of the past but of all that has been forgotten and lost. I also absolutely love how you emphasize that nostalgia takes away from appreciating the present. Your statement that we should understand and feel how good it is to be alive right now, because right now is all we can control, and something we never get back. I love your parting line, it resonates with me deeply because I personally find it so easy to get stuck in the past. Overall, I thought your post was really insightful, and I look forward to reading more!

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