Nostalgia

The ’90s are hitting hard right now. As someone who grew up skating in the ’90s and having all of my deep-seated cultural references tied to that era, I’m getting blasted with a barrage of nostalgia that’s just begging me to open up my wallet.

The formula is simple. The kids grew up and now they have money. Money they’ll gladly spend in hopes of recapturing the feeling of days gone by.

It’s a game and it’s fun to play as long as your expectations are in the right place.

Nostalgia is spending way too much money on that pair of skate shoes you had back in the day because you hope it will bring back that feeling you had on those warm summer nights, staying out till all hours with your friends and the adventure, possibility, and mystery that goes along with having a car, no cell phone, and no responsibility.

It’s a great fucking feeling. But the shoes don’t have anything to do with how you felt, and buying them now won’t recreate those feelings. They’re simply a souvenir of a time gone by.

So maybe instead of trying to purchase the feeling of the past, we can let go of the story that our best days are behind us. We can own that we have the power to generate equally powerful feelings by creating new experiences.

Experiences created by understanding that what was truly special about those nights wasn't the clothes or the music or even our youth but the strong connection we felt with ourselves and the people around us, the freedom that came with having no expectations and being fully present, and the naivety of believing anything is possible. Because it just might be.