Can you be nostalgic for a time you didn't live in?

Question

I always wish I could have lived back in Laura Ingalls Wilder's day. Life seemed so much less complicated and stressful. I know that there's so much to be grateful for today, but I just wish that I could have been born back then. Does anybody else ever feel this way?

Answer 1

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I always thought it would be so nice to live in the renaissance times. And I don't mean live in a castle, either. Just a nice, simple country cottage, far enough away from the king that you forget he exists for days at a time. Just you and your little community, your vegetable patch and a cow and a chicken. It seems like a much calmer, simpler way to live.

Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Oh, there were such good answers for this one! I didn't want to pick a best one :( Thanks, everybody! That made me feel better!

Answer 2

no..cause...slavery

Answer 3

I have always felt that I should have lived in the 40's. Even though I listen to Led Zeppelin, Marilyn Manson, Simple Plan..etc I really dig Big Band era music. I watch tons of the old black and white tv shows.
Yeah, I know what you're talking about.

Answer 4

Actually I've always wanted to live in the 60s. That is probably my favorite decade. I'd be like a hippy without the drugs lol, if that's possible.

Answer 5

People feel that way about a past they never experienced because they are able to romanticize what that past must have been like. We can imagine it to be whatever we desire; the truth is that there was just as much suffering in the past as there is in the present. It is a fact of life. But, still, fun to think about. For me, it would be accompanying Darwin on his explorations, discovering parts of nature that were unknown in the experience of Europeans at that time. I never think about the sickness, misery and disease that was prevalent at that time...

Answer 6

I loved reading the Little House series of books when I was a kid, and always wished I lived back then. Now that I'm older, I'm thankful that I have running water, washing machines, showers, grocery stores, microwaves, central heat and air, etc. Perhaps to be wealthy and live back then would've been good. But to actually live as the Ingalls did would've been hard work just keeping food on the table.

I also always wished I'd lived in the 1880's in a mountain gold mining town. My favorite places to visit are the old towns like Silverton, Central City, Cripple Creek, etc in Colorado. Then I think of the lack of insulation back then, and going to the outhouse in the snow. Brrr.

It is strange to think we all have a place in time. And at some point, people will wish they'd lived in our time.

Answer 7

Maybe you did live in that time and you just don't remember it. Ever hear of reincarnation?