Some feelings don't come with a receipt. They just show up. Heavy or tender or restless for no reason you can name. And the instinct is to trace it back to something. Why do I feel this. What happened. But sometimes nothing happened. Sometimes your body is processing something your conscious mind finished with weeks ago. Or maybe it never had a cause at all. Just your nervous system reminding you that you're human and humans feel things that don't fit into explanations. Not every emotion needs a source to be real. Some just need permission to pass through.
As a hospice nurse, I know first hand how nostalgia can hit at the most random times. It can bring on a plethora of emotions out of nowhere. And you may not always know why. I see this a lot with my patients.
In the world these days most people are feeling the anxiety, because that’s what we are told to feel. In can be full of depth if we allow it to. We need to enjoy nostalgia, not get anxious by it.
Some feelings don't come with a receipt. They just show up. Heavy or tender or restless for no reason you can name. And the instinct is to trace it back to something. Why do I feel this. What happened. But sometimes nothing happened. Sometimes your body is processing something your conscious mind finished with weeks ago. Or maybe it never had a cause at all. Just your nervous system reminding you that you're human and humans feel things that don't fit into explanations. Not every emotion needs a source to be real. Some just need permission to pass through.
“Some feelings don’t come with a receipt.” That’s a great way to put it.
It’s often how it shows up for me. No clear trigger, just something passing through that needs space.
Sometimes certain music brings it up too, and I still don’t always know why.
Beautiful!
Growth mindset.
As we grow we start becoming different people. Each phase of our life is a different person all together.
Maybe it’s nostalgia? For all that’s passed.
Thank you,
and I think there’s truth in that.
Some emotions aren’t about ‘now’, but are echoes.
Exactly!!!
As a hospice nurse, I know first hand how nostalgia can hit at the most random times. It can bring on a plethora of emotions out of nowhere. And you may not always know why. I see this a lot with my patients.
That makes sense coming from your job.
Being close to endings must make those echoes feel sharper too.
Well.
There are only two.
It’s those two.
In the world these days most people are feeling the anxiety, because that’s what we are told to feel. In can be full of depth if we allow it to. We need to enjoy nostalgia, not get anxious by it.
I appreciate that perspective.
I'd rather lean toward depth than default to anxiety.
If nostalgia does show up, I'll try to meet it with curiosity instead of fear.
I love that! That’s the best way to be. 💝
Getting older is intense my friend.
Sorry to tell ya.
That’s why people become more anxious as they get older. Knowing we are closer to the end than the beginning brings forth A LOT of different emotions.
And here I was, happily getting older, blissfully unaware.
In all seriousness though. I'm hoping it's intensity with depth, and not just anxiety.
Exactly.
And the older we get the stronger those feelings will get. Which I assume is what you were feeling.
Get used to it my friend, the older you get the more you will feel it.
Careful, now you're making aging sound intense.
If getting older means feeling more honestly, I'll take it.
Even if it comes with nostalgia.