What’s nostalgic? Triggers and Memories….

So, what is nostalgic? What do people think of when you ask them? What’s nostalgic to you? I have been wondering this over and over. So I decided to ask! 

I put out a question on social media and hoped people would respond with their views of what makes them nostalgic. Here are the responses:

Now, reading through this gives me some issues. How do I photograph a piece of music, a time gone, a smell, the car you used to drive, etc? It appears that nostalgia is very personal. It’s subject to the individual and their life of course. What makes you nostalgic is personal to you. However, one recurring thing through this and my research into studies on nostalgia is that these things are triggers. The trigger is the thing that transports you back to that time in your life. These are the times you are nostalgic for. The smell of fish and chips may be the trigger for your nostalgia, but the memory it invokes maybe of a Friday evening sitting around the dining table with your parents as it was the end of the week treat to have fish and chips. The working week is done, school is finished and everyone is coming together to enjoy the weekend. This maybe the fond time you are remembering. The nostalgia is the time, the trigger is the smell.