One sound, one smell and even one touch can put you into a trance back in time.

Leaving the present time behind, you consciously slip inside your own memories and travel back to a time you have experienced already that holds a sentimental value inside.

This trance can leave you pleased, or it also can produce feelings on the far end of the emotional spectrum of sadness. Whichever emotion this trance leaves you, it’s inevitable to feel it.

Nostalgia has just set in.

As I get older, I feel that the longing for the past is a recurring event I can’t escape from. Ever since I started college four years ago and began living on my own, I have noticed that my subconscious is beckoning for the time when I was a kid and still lived with my family.

My family and I would always spend time together on the weekends exploring different zoos and seeing all the animals they held. I remember my brother and I would fight over who held the zoo map. At that time, I was so frustrated with him, but now I would love to go back and experience it again.

I frequently think back to grade school, where the fun and eagerness still lived and it was not a bottle of stress to drink each day.

I feel like being a kid still serves you endless motivation and your imagination is not just limited to your work breaks. It was an easier time playing with your friends outside at recess not worrying about what sacrifices you are making to enjoy yourself.

Let’s face it, being a kid was pure bliss.

Our minds are magnificent creations, and I wish I knew why they do some of the things they do.

Like sending us back to happy times or sad times, and resurfacing those feelings for us to feel once again. Maybe it is a fail-safe mechanism to let ourselves experience the emotions we need to feel, and not keep them on hold to all come crashing together at once. Or it also could be our subconscious’ way of helping us cope with our everyday challenges.

Whatever the reason, these journeys back to old memories have occurred more and more throughout my college years. Since college is a time for self-exploration and is honestly a growing period for everyone, maybe the nostalgia is a way to see where you have come and reflect on where you are now.

I have faced a lot of obstacles on my own and made many achievements since becoming a college student, so maybe by glancing back at grade school or the time my family went to the zoo together is my own way of easing the daily stress by inducing certain emotions.

Instead of feeling sad that those times are gone, I should start looking at it as a way to be happy that they existed.

Who knows, maybe in the future I might look back to this time and miss it.