You are strolling through the flea market on a Sunday afternoon and you spy something from the corner of your eye. It is a toy china tea cup. It looks just like the one you had as part of your tea set as a little girl. For a moment you are transported back in time, to a happier time, when childhood games and toys could bring you joy. Of course you have to buy the tea cup. It is a tangible reminder of a happy memory. Can memorabilia make you feel happy? Speaking from my personal experience I would say yes but with a few caveats or exceptions. In this post we are going to explore the reasons why so many of us are attracted to nostalgia and how our sentimentality may be good for our mental health.

My theory about sentimentality is that as we grow older we have more memories tucked away in the corners of our mind. Some are good memories and some are bad. For the person suffering from depression, the bad memories can seem to overshadow happier times. When we do discover a pleasant memory through some tangible association such as an old toy, photograph, or object, we want to hold onto it to recapture that feeling we once had. There are tons of venues for people who wish to rediscover their more pleasant memories with on-line websites dedicated to anything from 80’s nostalgia, to retro candy , as well as classic toys from your childhood. Sites like eBay cater to the sentimentalist where you can find pretty much anything you want to find including the Sears original Pong system from 1975 (remember this game?) or a talking Mrs. Beasley doll (from the TV classic Family Affair) in its original box. There are also print magazines which take us back in time such as Reminisce or Nostalgia magazine  which is full of reader stories and photos from earlier decades. And of course there are flea markets, antique stores, and vintage clothing stores to satisfy our need to rediscover the past.

So what is this need in us to see or possess old stuff?

I can only speak from my experience but for me, collecting items from my childhood is a way to make my ghostly images and hazy memories come to life. I have very few photos from my childhood as my mother and I were poor and she had little money or time for taking pictures. Yet the few photos I do have show objects which were important to me. I see an old Casper mask from Halloween, a plastic santa and reindeer which sat on our mantel each holiday, old games like Uncle Wiggly and Which Witch, and a Roly Poly Chime ball with boats in it.  I have just begun to collect some of these old toys and I can tell you that it is a very strange and bittersweet experience. The magic and spark are still there… but oh so briefly. Then you remember that you can never go back.

There is also some sense of regaining what was lost. My mother and I had to move a lot when I was a child. There were even times when I was homeless and had to live in a shelter or with relatives. My things were usually left behind. I had no time to collect them. Seeing these objects from my childhood revives the spirit of that little girl who is still inside me. I give her a bit of joy in seeing those lost toys once more.