You too presently, you face yourself re-watching series or re-reading that great book you like so much?
Well, this is totally my case and since the first lockdown, Iāve done that really often. Not because I didnāt know what to watch, but because I needed more of that cuddling feeling.
Iāve started to find some information about that phenomenon on the Internet. It seams that since we already know what will happen, we already had an emotional response and experience on how it made us feel, it would regulate our emotions.
When we need to deal with uncertain times as this world wild pandemic, finding an emotional state where we feel safe is key to keep our feet in the ground. It helps re-connect to happy memories and needs less emotional fuel. As a cosy warm blanket for your mind.
My curiosity went up a thousand percent and so I put myself in analysing mode to find more facts on that matter.
I found first an article in the French Huffington Post, translated from itās American edition with some compelling aspects. Ā« āOur everyday is humdrum, often even absurd. Nostalgia can lend us much-needed context, perspective and direction, reminding and reassuring us that our life is not as banal as it may seem. It also tells us that there have been ā and will once again be ā meaningful moments and experiences. Ā» explains the psychologist Neel Burton, author of Heaven and Hell: The Psychology of the Emotions.
It works with TV series and films as much as with music too and thereās nothing bad about it. In contrary, Nostalgia has some compelling scientific advantages as studies shows it can help people being more optimistic and fight better against loneliness and anxiety. How amazing, right?
But wait, thereās more. In a 2012 marketing study that I found mentioned on another website, the Nostalgia Effect is not alone responsible of this great benefit. Indeed, according to that study, the repetition effect allowed the people interviewed on that occasion to resolve issues they encounters.
The most striking example? A subject of the study was constantly re-watching a movie. Ā« It was helping her work through having an engagement that hadn’t worked out. [ā¦] Every viewing reminded her of her own failed romance, which allowed her to gradually get over her heartbreak. Ā» It was a way for her to face what she was the most afraid of and go over it. Ā« Consumers gain richer and deeper insights into the reconsumption object itself, says the published study, but also an enhanced awareness of their own growth in understanding and appreciation through the lens of the reconsumption object Ā».
With all those new facts, Iāve came to the conclusion that in such unexpected circumstances, rewatching movies or series, reading back books, listening to some music again and again do not just gives an instant comfort boost but allows us too to look at all weāve accomplished so far, anchor ourselves in the now and make us realise how much weāve grown since.
Knowing that we can confort ourselves on the fact that we did grown, that weāve matured and grown, isnāt this a relief and a perfect excuse to re-watch, yes again, some of your favorite shows? š
