How your favorite childhood activities planted seeds of wellbeing
For millennials, nostalgia is everywhere right now: clothing stores, social trends, movie theatres—even new tech that resembles old tech. Revisiting the things that delighted us during a time when life felt much simpler offers comfort and connection to cultural moments with people who share our memories and experiences.
The bittersweet longing for what once was can feel like a complicated emotion, but most emotions are a little bit complicated. John Koenig, author of Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, has made his career out of coining terms that capture the complexity of feelings that hadn’t yet been named. Like Yù yī: the desire to feel with the same intensity you did as a child. This is where our partnership with Disney begins.
If you’ve ever caught yourself smiling at the scent of Play-Doh, craving Dunk Aroos or humming the melody of “You've Got a Friend in Me,” then you know where we’re going with this: nostalgic joy is good for you—science now confirms it. Reflecting on happiness that we’ve already experienced strengthens the stories we have of ourselves and relationships, which Professor of Psychology, Tim Wildschut, calls “a psychological immune response [to] little bumps in the road.”
Aren’t I supposed to stay in the moment?
The leading rhetoric around mental wellbeing says, “be present”—not advice we’d argue with—but it does make nostalgia out to be a counterintuitive ally in that pursuit. What is already among the many strategies for improving wellbeing is making a ritual out of gratitude. And while there’s tons of research backing the benefits of conventional gratitude practices (journaling, meditating, etc.), some of them just aren’t that... fun.
Back to Yù yī
There’s a reason you have a favorite childhood movie. The playfulness of the story, characters, music, and colors made you feel something intense enough to linger. And you can recreate that for yourself—even make a ritual of it.
A fun-focused, nostalgic gratitude practice can look like this:
Take a wonder-walk.
Don’t plan, just go—no agenda, no earbuds or cellphone, just a sense of wonder. “I wonder where this path goes?” “I wonder what that flower smells like?” Everything is exciting when you’re curious and open-minded, like you were in childhood.
Enjoy a little treat.
Sugar cookies taste like the holidays. S’mores taste like family vacations (and we happen to have a new tea that tastes just like them). Food holds memories. So, make your favorite Christmas side dish on a random Sunday in July, just because you can.
Play retro video games.
The blips and boings, the rhythm of your thumbs over the controller, the rush of adrenaline; video games engage almost every sense—and that’s a recipe for presence. Your mom had to call you to the dinner table several times because time stands still when you’re engaged in play.
Sing and dance.
From the first chord and “yea-ah-ah,” you know exactly what hit 90’s boyband song is playing. The music you were listening to between the ages 12 and 22 is the soundtrack of becoming you, and it lights up your brain like fireworks. The song that was playing during your first kiss, the first song you played in your first car, the song you and your friends played on repeat the entire summer of graduation—they activate neural nostalgia; they cause your brain to respond with the same emotional intensity as when those events took place.
When you break it down, underneath any longing for what was, is gratitude for having had the experience at all. No Disney movie represents this intersection quite like Toy Story. Andy’s toys define their purpose by being loved, but it’s not until that relationship starts to change that a deep sense of appreciation forms for what it was. While sad at first, their gratitude for those shared experiences enriches their sense of self and bonds to one another.
Growing up is inevitable. But growing out of your sense of fun is a choice—and not one we’d recommend. Check out our four new Disney-inspired teas. Blended for the forever-young-at-heart.