How to overcome nostalgia at Christmas? 10 recommendations

Overcoming nostalgia at Christmas becomes the objective of many, as an era is approaching when emotions emerge.

The reunions with relatives, those who are and those who have already left, the arrival of the little ones, the illusions, the counting of goals fulfilled and to meet, the work or family dinners, ads on television, illuminated streets, carols However, all this, although it seems paradoxical, can arouse a certain nostalgia.

You may lead someone to wonder: why do I feel nostalgia at the happiest time of the year? But, it is valid to know that you are not the only one because there are many people to who invades nostalgia on the dates of December.

Content

• Nostalgia
• Nostalgia in the Christmas environment
• How to overcome nostalgia at Christmas
  • Bibliography

Nostalgia

Nostalgia is an ambiguous sensation that implies joy, but also sadness. According to Juan Sebastián Muñoz Ocampo, in his study on “Nostalgia as a desire to return: an understanding from the psychology of psychoanalytic guidance and literature, nostalgia is a term that comes from the Greek Nostos, which means 'return' or 'return', and algos, that translates as 'pain'. Thus, nostalgia is a pain for the desire to return.

When studying Nostalgia this was defined as an inability to think about a thing other than home, with an indifference towards everything, rejection of food, stunned look, and impossibility of getting up. That was how it was thought that it could be a disease, but nothing is further from reality.

Nostalgia can be defined as a desire to return to a period or an earlier condition of life that is remembered as something better than the present, or a yearning to return to a place where the person feels emotionally linked, as The home or homeland.

Nostalgia, according to the author indicated, is a feeling that arises as a product of the desire to return to an era, an object, an object or a person, of the past time, which is perceived as better, ideal, happy, perfect or towards the that you have special appreciation, but that at the present time it is out of reach, either momentary, because it is absent, or forever, as a loss.

The feeling of nostalgia, so it has a double emotional valence; On the one hand, it has a positive quality, for what is remembered, but a feeling of sadness entails, since what is remembered cannot be again or cannot have again. That is why it is considered as a feeling that oscillates between the sad and the happy.

However, the most typical of nostalgia is not memory or absence, but The desire to return to it. Due to its temporal nature, nostalgia is a feeling with reference to the past.

In addition, it is a feeling of the human being as a species, that is, that all men can feel it for the simple fact of having a past, a homeland, an childhood, a home, among others. However, in old age, the human being is nostalgic par excellence.

In addition to this, it should be noted that nostalgia is an experience that arises with more force when you are alone, either when a person leaves one place, or when another is reached and the person is alone. In conclusion, It is a feeling of memory and desire for return that is favored in solitude.

Nostalgia in the Christmas environment

The Christmas atmosphere is very conducive for nostalgia to arise, because the time is loaded with many emotions, in addition to stress by preparations, agglomerations also appear and, remembering the past time or loved ones that are no longer can do that they can no longer make Nostalgia is sharpened. That is why many people are more sensitive and nostalgia during Christmas.

For this reason, it is so important to learn strategies to overcome nostalgia at Christmas, since it is also a time when, through memories, they try to measure successes or defeats.

However, nostalgia is not negative, but it is a force that helps to strengthen the sense of personal continuity, with the knowledge that there is a reserve of memories, which are rooted with the identity of people.

In the background, nostalgia also implies having a deposit in the memory of emotions that are positive and that can, in a way, help to deal with the future.

It is important to learn to overcome nostalgia at Christmas with resilience and transform it into a positive factor for the future. The first thing to do is learn to control the mood, keep self -esteem strong and consider new objectives.

How to overcome nostalgia at Christmas

Although it is not easy, with these recommendations it will be much more feasible to overcome nostalgia at Christmas.

1. Keep your mind busy: To avoid thinking a little about the past, it is valid to assume some activities, whether work or recreational commitments. This helps to clear the mind and to reduce the impact of memories.
2. Physical activities: Keeping the active body is a good option to clear the mind and, in addition, produce hormones that help feel happiness.
3. Positive attitude and mind: Force must be focused and placed all the positivity on the challenges that are there to be assumed and the way in which this will be done.
4. Keep some possessions: since this has a symbolic weight with which sadness can be transformed into joy. In the case of people who are in another city, possessing some of their homeland can help them to feel connected.
5. Socialize: The person with nostalgia may desire to remain isolated, but the most convenient is, since this generates a positive impact.
6. Adopt a pet: It can be great support to reduce anxiety and have a company. It is also a way to create new happy memories.
7. Give space to nostalgia: since it is not about denying it. You can take a space to feel it, listen to music, remember, eat homemade food, among others, but at twenty -four hours you can stop the time reserved for nostalgia and undertake a tourist visit with some group of friends.
8. Prepare a program: Creating a new routine can also be satisfactory, so you can expect with illusion every new hour.
9. Create a family space: That it can be a sofa, a cafeteria or a place to go and see how people walk their dogs at the same time, how time takes place. If you opt for a cafeteria, the waiter will know how the person likes coffee, which will create familiarity.
10. Face boredom: since this is a source of nostalgia. To do this, the person can register in a gym, attend classes or other new activities, participate in volunteer or other activities that help create new friendships.

As final recommendations, real contact must be had, avoiding social networks a bit, knowing new people, distracting, exploring a new site and taking many photos with which new memories will be created.

Finally, remember to leave the door open for family or friends; Having a company is always pleasant to share great moments.

Emotions and Mental Health: Nostalgia

Bibliography

• Davis, f. (2011). Yearning for Yesterday: A Sociology of Nostalgia. The Collective Memory Reader, 5, 446-451
• Muñoz, s. (2013). Nostalgia as a desire to return: an understanding from the psychology of psychoanalytic guidance and literature.
• Paniagua, c. (2010). Nostalgia Psychology. Medical dendra. Humanities Magazine, 9(1), 39-48.
• Sohn, l. (1983). Nostalgia. International Journal of Psycho-Analysis, 64, 203-210.