Coping With Covid - Hint: Nostalgia

Long ago, in 1973, there was a movie called “The Way We Were,” starring Barbara Streisand and Robert Redford. Cinematically, it was not a hit. But musically, it marked the first time Streisand notched a No. 1 song on the charts.

Originally a song about college love, today its opening lyrics can read like a reflection of the effect of COVID-19.

Here is the opening:

Memories light the corners of my mind

Reading those lyrics now, it’s easy to understand the appeal of the times that came before the world was overtaken by the novel corona virus, which has now infected more than 17 million people worldwide and killed more than 150,000 Americans.

Perhaps you’ve picked up a favorite old novel, or streamed reruns of “Cheers,” “Little House on the Prairie” or even “Family Affair.” Or, like a high school friend of mine, made her grandmother’s beloved strawberry shortcake recipe that transported her back in time to the summertime church socials of her childhood.

A wave of nostalgia is coursing across the country, and it’s no coincidence. Memories are deeply embedded and recalling them can bring people peace of mind.

Long fully appreciates why people are reaching back in time, to the days before wearing face masks and distancing 6 feet were the norm. Experiences and memories seem to be linked to each other. If you were to go back to high school, you’d be transported back to other experiences you had while you were there much like smores brings fond summer memories of my day camp.

We are prediction machines. We like to be able to predict what’s going to happen. With all of the uncertainty in the world right now, it makes sense that we would want to retreat into something that we’re familiar with, because we can predict it. There’s no surprises. There’s nothing that is going to come up that’s going to be uncertain if we revisit something that we’ve already experienced.

My favorite go to show was aired before I was even born!

1956 "What's My Line?"

How do you cope with Covid??

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