Nostalgia is a feeling that the majority of adults can relate to experiencing. The homesickness for something in our pasts seems to grow stronger as we age and is an attachment to something lost or special from an earlier time in our lives. Childhood is usually a time of happiness and innocence without the dreaded responsibility that comes from being an “adult”. A common theme for most children is the desire to grow up and be an adult. Watching R-rated movies, staying up late, eating any and all types of food, and buying anything on any store shelf. Are these the desires that we all have as children in believing it’s better to be an adult? Admittedly, these can be exciting tasks but adulthood is so much more serious. Having a job, paying bills, and acting like an adult are all tasks that we as adults have to deal with every single day of our adult lives.

The inability to live in the moment and appreciate every experience in-person and focused is something that both children and adults share. Children want to look into the future to grow up and become adults. Adults want to look backwards into the past by reliving childhood memories and experiences. The marketing of toys and childhood themes to adults has become a massively successful industry for this very reason. Adults are finally able to purchase toys and experiences that they were not able to have or hold onto when they were kids. For this reason, nostalgia comes with a cost.

Personally, purchasing childhood-themed toys and memorabilia just doesn’t have the same magic that it did as a kid. Maybe the taint of adulthood clouds the experience in some way. Nostalgia is not cheap but the access to childhood items has never been easier with online auction sites and on the internet itself. As a kid, opening up a birthday present that contains your favorite superhero or cartoon icon was so special. As an adult, keeping the same item, or a replica of that item, sealed in its box never to be handled in order to retain the value, doesn’t seem as magical. In these instances, adulthood has tainted the specialness of childhood; placing monetary value over the pure joy of play.

Nostalgia isn’t necessarily a bad thing - in moderation. Homesickness can become all-consuming but shouldn’t discourage adults from looking back on their childhood fondly. A little bit of nostalgia mixed with a little bit of adulthood might be the perfect blend for a happier life. Instead of longing for the past or living in the future, blending the magic of childhood play with the adult means to finance that play may help. Reliving a positive moment in childhood is not a bad thing as an adult. Sometimes this reliving can help create positive moments in adulthood as well. Never losing that child-like creativity and play would seem to help adult-like issues of depression, anxiety, and worry. Instead of trying to recreate our childhoods, maybe re-exercising some childhood traits in our adult lives can improve the way we live and feel about ourselves.