What is the word for missing the past

Thinking of a death or other traumatic event in the past is mourning or lamenting. If remembering a missed opportunity or a mistake made in the past then you are regretting it. A couple other terms are lament and pine

In respect to this, what is the word for missing someone?

Saudade is used to explain the feeling of missing something or someone. It is used to tell about something that you used to have (and liked) but don’t have anymore. But literally, it goes deeper. In a whole bunch of clumsy English words, Saudade means “the love that remains” after someone is gone.

Also to know, how do you express missing someone badly?

Is a good memory a sign of intelligence?

Researchers have found that a simple test of working memory capacity strongly predicts a person’s performance on a battery of intelligence tests that measure everything from abstract problem-solving to social intelligence. Working memory is a way of temporarily storing information used for some mental task.

Is Hyperthymesia a disorder?

Hyperthymesia is a condition that leads people to be able to remember an abnormally large number of their life experiences in vivid detail.

Write Your Answer

Hi, I have huge problems regarding my past. It’s not that I can’t get over several events that happened, I appreciate everything that has happened and I don’t want anything to be different. So my problem isn’t that I can’t forgive myself for things that have happend but it’s that I really miss those things.

Sometimes it just overwhelms me. I really made a huge progress in self-improvement since I’ve started a therapy because of my social anxiety. But the stuff with the past still bothers me. I just miss everything from the past. I’m nostalgic in no time. I instantly feel this gloomy melancholic feeling.

For example when I think about my childhood. I really miss those times. Being a kid, hanging around with old friends. People I haven’t seen in years. People that have moved on. But I still miss those times. My Ex-Girlfriend is also a huge part of it. All this memorable stuff that happens in a second and is gone forever. I’m missing everything that is gone (so the past, obviously). The «wont come back» part is the main point. So it’s a huge problem with endings.

Things that change gradually aren’t the problem, as long if they’re still in my life. For eg. I have an old friend, we’ve grown apart and it’s okay but we’re still in contact from time to time to hear how things are going etc. It’s just nice to have this connection. Acknowledging the memories you’ve shared together. It’s something I need. When I can do this I don’t think about my past at all. So I don’t cry about the good times that I had with this friends, I just call him on his birthday/or he calls me on mine and we chat a bit. That’s all I need.

But things that are only in my mind overwhelm me. It’s too strange to really accept it. I know, the past is intangible. The only thing that’s real is the now. But still, I have the extreme urge to keep a connection to the past just to appreciate things. It’s like the remembrance isn’t good enough.

I’ve tried different things but I only make a small progress. I know the future is bright. I know that there are many new adventures. I know that my past made me the person I’m now and that’s a good thing. But isn’t it sad and depressing? You meet someone, you share unforgettable experiences together and then it’s gone? Like it never happened.

I already practice mindfulness to focus more on the now. Also to appreciate more what happens right now so I have a more vivid memory of it. My therapy is also quite helpful. I meditate about this stuff to accept the evanescence. But it still comes over me from time to time. I think at least every two weeks. My mind’s drowning in old memories than.

How can I accept that this is the past and I can’t change it? It’s nothing I have to get over. But I can’t accept that those things HAVE happened and AREN’T happening now.

PS: please overlook my poor grammar, ESL here and it’s almost 4 am.

Additional thoughts (almost 8 fckn years later): I don’t really use this account anymore since I cut Reddit out of my life almost completely (one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, but I do lurk from time to time lol). Every now and then I log into this account, because SO MANY people keep messaging me about this post – for whatever reasons it resonates with a lot. I wish I could reply to all of you, but my time is limited. So I finally had the great idea to just edit this post and give you guys a short synopsis of how I am doing regarding this issue (and in general).

So what should I tell you? The short story is: I just stopped caring about this stuff and I haven’t done anything in particular to solve this. A bit lackluster, isn’t it? Obviously, that’s only half the truth. I actually did many things that led to me getting over this issue – I just never really addressed it directly. Instead I tried to get to the root of my issues, which in my case is a mix of Trauma and ADHD.

So I just kept working on myself. I know it sounds cliche, but I started to work more towards what I want in the now and that really helped. This obsession with the past and nostalgia was a huge escape mechanism for me. I went to therapy and just tackled my issues one at a time. I know how hard it is to escape that vicious cycle, when you’re constantly dragged down by those feelings of nostalgia, but it is possible. What really helped me besides therapy was the book «Feel The Fear And Do It Anyway». The cognitive principles are great to become better at handling fear (which is at the root of this whole nostalgia obsession in my opinion). «Healthy grieving» also made a huge difference. I got introduced to the concept when I read the book «Complex PTSD: From Surviving to Thriving» by Pete Walker. Even if you don’t suffer from trauma it’s such a great way to actively grieve the things that are gone or you missed out on (instead of anxiously dwelling on it). Also the standard reddit answer: hit the gym, try to eat healthy and get enough sleep (seriously, that is so important because having a healthy body helps you to work on your mind).

I’m still not done (is there a thing as being «done», when it comes to personal growth? probably not). As I got older (I’m 29 now), I just became more relaxed about all the stuff from my past. Missing your past is obviously normal to a certain point. Like other people in the thread mentoined, it makes you realize you had something special. I do miss the good old times every now and then – but in a normal healthy manner.

Let’s look at another example from the same Use of English exercise.  

Here’s the next gap from the Use of English exercise.  

The word set in this part of the sentence tells us that we need a phrasal verb and one that means to travel. There are two options here and the words are out or off. We can also use a particular expression for this context, which is sailing and the expression is to set sail.

Columbus didn’t succeed (12) …….. finding the Spice Islands but he (13) …….. manage to discover the Americas.

There he (14) …….. across another pepper; the chilli, which had been used in cooking in South America for thousands of years.

In this sentence we need to think about what the general meaning of the sentence is. Here it means to discover. We can see that the word across is used after the gap so that must be a phrasal verb and the correct word in this case is came to create came across.

Soon (15) …….. Columbus’s discovery, large quantities of chillies were being shipped back to Spain from the Caribbean.

In the sentence we look at the word soon so we clearly need a word that refers to time. In this gap the only word we can use is after.

Later, people realised that chillies would actually grow in southern Europe and it wasn’t long before fresh chillies were (16) …….. sale in European markets.

In this final sentence the word sale would help us decide what the correct word is. We obviously need to a word that used with it and it is probably a preposition. There are two possible options with the word sale; we can talk about something being on sale or for sale.