Hello, this is my first post on this account, I doubt anybody will even see this but I guess I’ll get right into it.
It all starts back in my junior year of high school, I remember I got a new lamp for my bedroom and it looked a lot like the one my grandmother had when I was younger. I was so in love with this feeling, that I now know is called nostalgia, that every weekend I would use the lamp instead of my main bedroom light to make it feel more like I was back at her house on the weekends. (I do it to this day)
For a while I started doing small things like this in addition to just the lamp, such as using old websites for the aesthetic or getting super into nostalgic music again. It’s funny looking back now and realising it ramped up as my depression worsened, but I digress. After I graduated school, to keep things short, my life was just hell. A big mess, started community college but dropped out, couldn’t get a job, ended up being kicked out by my dad over this and was homeless for a bit. This made my senior year of high school like a cutoff point for that nostalgia thing. I wanted for the longest time to either just die or go back in time. Eventually though, I managed to climb out of homelessness but not without ending up thousands of miles away with no friends or family nearby me. It’s been years since then, but I can’t help but think back and realise that ever since that day years ago where I finally made it back to a normal life, I’ve only made 2 new core memories really. One was going to a new state to see a dying family member after years to say my goodbyes, the other was going to the big city I had always dreamed of seeing in person when I was in high school since I actually live nearby now (alone, and ended up being disappointed with San Francisco in person).
Other than those 2 things, my life seems to just be a looping cycle of wishing I was back in those junior and senior year days. I don’t own a car because I feel like it’s the last “old-world” freedom I have left from those days so to speak. Avoiding the final step of growing up I guess. I have an attachment to the same anime characters who were essentially my only friends back then for a long time (I still spend a lot of time alone in my room too because I struggle to make friends). I still fight the urge to sleep so I can pull all nighters just to stay up to see the sunrise while gaming and feel something (I have a monster in the fridge to do it tonight). I take lots of time off of work this time of year just to feel like I have a summer vacation back. I still eat a diet of mostly instant noodles and other cheap shit because my grandmother was poor growing up and that’s mostly what we had for snacks, it brings me comfort.
maybe this is kinda pathetic to say but I just feel like at my current age I am lightyears behind people mentally. I don’t even feel like I’m an adult to be honest. I just want to keep barely working and playing games and staying up late forever, while at the same time wanting to go back in time and re-do the past to not end up this way ironically enough. I miss what old friends I did have terribly as well. I just long for the days where I was clueless about how the world works and was busy listening to Tyler the creator’s new album while walking to school.
I doubt anyone can relate, but on the off chance anyone else is impaired by nostalgia or stuck in the past, I salute you. it sucks
Even many non depressed people feel like they never really became an adult. Its both a good and a bad thing. I don’t know how to break out of the nostalgia. I have something similar but its more fantasizing. I go to work and I do my job but like many of us I often wish when I close my eyes at night it will be the last time and I don’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I fantasize about how great it would be to live in a fantasy world. Its not like I really believe I will but its definitely an unhealthy level of thought. My wife and I agree that we are both depressed but not without good cause. Money would eliminate a lot of it although not completely due to medical issues she has. Would make it much easier though. I have a hard time believing depression is not super prevalent the way the world is going. I think most just put on a good face and don’t talk about it, like I do, mostly.
That fantasy world is so relatable it hurts. Except for the times when I go to bed, I always have my headphones in, using the music to imagine a different life for myself with the soundtracks. One time I even called out of work because I couldn’t find my earbuds and didn’t want to brace reality.
I wish the best for you both. Hope things start to look up.
Yeah I would say bedtime is my likeliest time for me to indulge. Partially because im hoping maybe it will carry over into dreams.