Or , try A Tree of Me , a free , private , family social media app for preserving and sharing memories via video or voice recordings or through photos . With the app , you can build a family tree , create a virtual scrapbook , and add comments and emoticons to memories .
Look ahead as you remember the past Loss is hard and thinking about and remembering relatives and loved ones who have passed away might make us revisit that grief . But Routledge notes , “ Even that sadness or loss has a sort of redemptive quality . We realize special experiences are often transient , and we ’ re left with a desire to re-create them and pass traditions on .”
He adds that photos and mementos also give us hope for the future , that we can make similar happy memories ourselves sometime soon .
“ Nostalgia has that inspirational power ,” he says . “ It motivates us to have those experiences again .”
Traditions created through nostalgia can tie us to the present . Revisiting old memories keeps us connected to people in a social way , Batcho says , like remembering past holidays and talking about loved ones as we unpack Christmas ornaments and decorate the tree together .
“ WE NATURALLY USE NOSTALGIA AS A WAY TO COMFORT AND ENERGIZE OURSELVES .”
— CL AY RO UTLED GE , PROFESSOR OF MANAGEMENT , NORTH DAKOTA STATE UNIVERSITY
Preserve a time capsule for future nostalgia During the pandemic , many people have been actively preserving memories as they experience them . During virtual school , Cindi Kasner in Houston plastered her dining room wall with “ Post-it Positives ,” sticky notes that her kids Levi , 11 , and Josephine , 8 , peeled off as they documented experiences they enjoyed each day . Then she made a book of the notes as a memory of their time together that year , creating an artifact they can revisit in the future .
GoNoodle has a video for kids on how to make a time capsule , and there are plenty of
free printables and worksheets online . Traditional time capsules are
made from steel , but if you ’ re handy you can also
make your own wooden box . Fill it with items like newspaper clippings , photos , and journal pages . Some people bury their time capsule outside , while others place it under loose floorboards in the house .
In Houston , Ada Kyriasoglou Stehl and her kids Erik , 10 , and Niki and Charlie , 8 , spent time together filling a COVID-19 time capsule with masks and a note about living through a pandemic , then placed it inside a kitchen wall as they renovated their home .
“ If anyone ever demolishes our kitchen , they ’ ll find what the world was like when we lived here ,” Stehl says .