Nostalgia. Man, I don’t know how to start this.

Nostalgia keeps me grounded and humble, but it also gives me hope – a reminder to stay positive about how things unfold in my life. In a way, my writing about nostalgia connects to my last post about memories, because for me, the two go hand in hand.

Without the memories I carry, would I even feel nostalgia toward my childhood – or toward anything at all? Who’s to say?

That being said, what sparked this piece was something small but powerful. Last week, I came across two TikToks – one of them hit me with a wave of nostalgia I wasn’t prepared for. It was a video of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 (The Goat) clips: the lobbies, the maps, that unmatched feeling of greatness.

Instantly, I was taken back to being 14, playing online with my cousin, friends, and randoms from all over the world. Talking the most trash. Working hard for that 25-kill streak. Working to Prestige multiple times. Pure happiness. No responsibilities. Just moments.

I sent it straight to my cousin. He replied with one word – Legendary.

It was indeed that. Legendary.

The other TikTok I saw was a woman talking about how nostalgia hurts. She spoke about how listening to old songs, looking at old pictures, and watching old shows hurt her soul – missing a time when things were simpler, wishing there was a button to revisit and relive those moments again, even just for a few minutes.

She mentioned the TikTok trend where people add sad, nostalgic sounds of children playing in playgrounds, laughing to videos on the app – something she had done herself in that exact video, which I couldn’t help but find funny.

But seeing that TikTok hit me hard, because it really does hurt. Growing up, you spend so much time wishing your youth away, wanting to grow up quickly, not realising how simple life actually was back then.

I’m 30 now, and looking back puts me in deep thought about how fast everything has gone by. It’s 2026. A decade ago, I was 20. Those ten years came and went in an instant. Do I wish I used my time more wisely, appreciating everything I had back then? Of course. Growing up, you don’t realise, understand, or truly know what you have.

Even now, as a 30-year-old man, I can still struggle at times to appreciate and recognise what I have – but I’m far more aware now, for sure.

Those TikToks really resonated with me. One gave me the feeling of ‘what a time – I miss it.’ The other stirred emotions I haven’t felt in a while – a desire to relive my childhood or even just specific moments, to feel that excitement again.

I believe both feelings in relation to nostalgia are valid – as long as you learn how to adjust in life and be more present with what’s in front of you.

Writing this made me realise how closely nostalgia and memories are intertwined. In my last post about memories, I spoke about how important it is to create them, to be present in the moments we’re living, because one day those moments will be all we have to look back on. Nostalgia is the emotional echo of those memories – sometimes warm, sometimes painful – but always a reminder that we lived, that we felt something real.

I think the key is learning not to live in nostalgia, but to learn from it. To let it ground us, not trap us. To use it as a reminder to be more present now, to appreciate what we have while we have it, because today’s ordinary moments will eventually become tomorrow’s memories too.

Maybe nostalgia isn’t about going back – it’s about reminding us to be present now. Either way, I’m grateful for it all.

TikTok that brought Nostalgia: https://www.tiktok.com/@renzyhd/video/7590083676059471126?_r=1&_t=ZN-93YgRMfv8sQ

Nostalgia Hurts TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@naystv__/video/7596842060888444182?_r=1&_t=ZN-93YgYk6CHTC