Nostalgia Is a Beautiful Liar

Nostalgia edits your past with a generous hand. It removes the anxiety, the loneliness, the uncertainty that were very much present at the time, and leaves only the golden highlights. The result is a version of your history that never actually existed — and one your present can never compete with.

There is nothing wrong with fond memories. The danger comes when you use a fantasy version of the past to judge your present as insufficient. You were not happier then — you were just differently uncertain. The sooner you accept that, the sooner you can invest fully in the life you are actually living.