While 'living in the past' can be quite unhealthy, even harmful, nostalgia is a powerful feeling, and something that powerful can become an intense motivator.
Getting stuck looking to the past can cause serious negative emotions. If we continuously grieve what we have lost or things we can no longer do, depression is often a by-product. How do we accept our current situation if we are always looking backwards?
One of the motivations, however, for getting better when one is ill is to get back to the person someone used to be. The idea of looking backwards to find motivation can be important.
It is vital to balance nostalgia with an understanding that we will never be exactly who we used to be. Looking to our past for activities we enjoy, for the level of strength or stamina we may need, and using our past to form a future to work towards, are all positive aspects of nostalgia.
We can use nostalgia to our advantage.
The Lighter Side of Nostalgia is that if we can use our memories to form tangible goals for our future, we get the best of both worlds. Using our positive experiences to create a plan - to work towards a skill or set of skills that can help us get through all of what illness can throw at us - this can make us better equipped to handle our pain. We remember how incredible we felt on certain vacations, or while we were engaged in a particular activity, perhaps when we were stronger, when we had a specific routine, and we form a similar plan that coincides with our current abilities, and bam - we are coping.
Instead of wallowing in what we have lost, take the memories and put it towards something for our future.
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