Were the old times better?

Why is it that we so often imagine the past as a better time—even when it’s an era we never lived through? Was everything truly better back then?

Nostalgia, without a doubt, plays a central role in that perception. For many, it becomes a form of comfort—a way to look backward when the present feels uncertain, especially during moments of abrupt change: the loss of a job, a move, an unfamiliar season of life. Change unsettles us. And in that unease, we seek shelter in what once felt— or what we imagine once felt—simpler, safer, more certain.

And yes, the past is full of brilliant minds who shaped the world as we know it. Oscar Wilde, Claude Monet, the Lumière brothers, Charlie Chaplin, Little Richard, Copernicus, Aristotle… names that echo through time. Yet even they, in their own time, often longed for something older. Many of them romanticized the past too—convinced, as we sometimes are, that the best had already been.

In the film Midnight in Paris, written and directed by Woody Allen, we meet Gil Pender, a young writer infatuated with 1920s Paris. He travels there with his fiancée and her wealthy parents. One night, after a few drinks, an old car pulls up beside him and whisks him away—to the very past he worships. He meets the artists he so admires and steps into the golden age of his imagination.
But soon, he discovers something unexpected: many of those very artists are themselves longing for a time gone by—the Renaissance, or even earlier—certain that their own era lacks soul.

Through its dreamy visuals and subtle dialogue, the film reveals a quiet truth: there is no perfect time. Perfection lives not in what was, but in how we remember.

The best time to create is now. The best time to be an artist is now.
We live in an age of unthinkable progress: diseases that once claimed lives are cured with a pill, women are no longer silenced by default, and voices once excluded now rise—though not without struggle—to claim space.

The problem isn’t nostalgia. The problem is mistaking nostalgia for truth.

Memory is not loyal; it is purposeful.
The American Psychological Association (APA) featured Krystine Batcho, PhD, professor at Le Moyne College, in a podcast on the psychology of nostalgia. In it, she explains that historical nostalgia often stems from dissatisfaction with the present:

Historical nostalgia, in my research, suggests is more likely triggered by dissatisfaction with the present…

Batcho argues that we romanticize what we didn’t live through because memory is selective—and thus, distorted. We remember the music, the friendships, the dances… but not the racism, the wars, the silence, the fear. It’s not a faithful archive. It’s an emotional filter.

Still, nostalgia isn’t inherently bad. In the same interview, Batcho also affirms:

Nostalgia serves a number of functions… It connects us to others and gives us a sense of who we are over time.

In other words, nostalgia can unify us—with who we were, with those we’ve loved, with the threads of identity that run through our lives. At its best, it reminds us that we are human.

We’ve all fallen for the fantasy of another time. We’ll do it again.
But that shouldn’t keep us from embracing the present.

It’s never too late.
If you ever feel too old to begin, remember: you’ll never be as young as you are right now.
Don’t be ashamed of what you haven’t done—only of giving up. Every effort, every fall, every quiet act of courage is part of your story.

Time won’t wait. No one is going to press pause for you.

And as that quote I love so much says:

Death is so sure of winning… it gives you a lifetime head start.

Use it well.

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American Psychological Association (Speaking of Psychology: Does nostalgia have a psychological purpose? With Krystine Batcho, PhD): https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/nostalgia

Other Posts: Go Touch Some Grass (https://thehearthnook.com/go-touch-some-grass/hearth-writer/), Is Listening to an Audiobook Cheating? (https://thehearthnook.com/is-listening-to-an-audiobook-cheating/hearth-writer/)