Differences between melancholy and nostalgia

Have you ever heard the word saudade? The Portuguese writer Francisco Manuel de Melo (1608-1666) defined it as “a good that is suffered and an evil that is enjoyed” . This Portuguese concept, although it does not have a literal translation, would have two sister words in Spanish: melancholy and nostalgia.

But what differences between melancholy and nostalgia do we find? Why can we affirm that they are not the same feelings, or emotions?

Melancholy and nostalgia: two intense emotions

Emotions are part of our life; They guide us and orient us when making decisions. These are defined as “Psychophysiological reactions that represent modes of adaptation of the individual when he perceives an object, person, place, event or important memory“.

There are more basic and primary emotions, and others that are more complex (and intense); among the latter We find two that have a special relationship: melancholy and nostalgia. Let’s get to know them in a little more depth.

Nostalgia is a feeling that has to do with the memory of something or someone that is no longer there.

The main differences between melancholy and nostalgia

To know the differences between melancholy and nostalgia, let’s start with a generic definition of each emotion.

Melancholy: sadness and “homesickness”

In the case of melancholy, we talk about “a permanent, vague and calm state of mind, of sadness and disinterest, arising from physical or moral causes, usually of slight importance”. As a curiosity, The Galicians identify a frequent origin of this melancholy; we talk about the “morriña”that emotion of longing that appears when you miss everything related to your homeland.

In Portuguese it also has an approximate translation, as we saw in the introduction, through the concept saudade. This word does not have a perfectly defined definition (although the approximation would be this), and the most established Portuguese assure that “the saudade cannot be explained, it is felt“.

Nostalgia: longing for something that made us happy

For its part, nostalgia is “a feeling of sorrow for the distance, absence, deprivation or loss of someone or something dear“. Paniagua, in an article for the Humanities Magazineproposed that It is the evocation of cherished memories that characterizes nostalgia..

When we get nostalgic it is usually because we are thinking about something from the past that we experience intensely, and when we remember a happy memory.

Why melancholy and nostalgia are not the same

Thus, nostalgia and melancholy, although they may seem similar concepts, because they both imply an emotion that leads us to look at the past, to miss and long, they are really not the same.

To begin with, the melancholy It is usually experienced as something unpleasant (or if not, sad), but in nostalgia it doesn’t happen exactly like that (it can be experienced in a more enjoyable way). Let’s see what the most important differences are between both concepts:

1. The existence of a loss

When we feel melancholy we have not necessarily experienced a loss (although it may have existed, this is not always the case). We can feel melancholy for something we would like to have but have never had, for example. Or we can miss something that is still there, but is far away (as in the case of migratory grief).

Instead, When we feel nostalgia, it is because we think about something from the past that we no longer have. (although we no longer experience it as a loss). We feel nostalgia for a past memory, for someone who is no longer there… Normally, for events or people that made us happy.

2. The presence of grief

Faced with the feeling of melancholy, we experience a certain sadness and restlessness; It is not a pleasant emotion to go through. On the other hand, this sorrow does not exist in nostalgia. It is, in some ways, a more pleasant emotion; when we experience it, yes we can long for somethingbut it is rather a beautiful feeling, which leads us to honor and be grateful for our past.

3. Low mood

Melancholy leaves us in a low state of mind, because it is accompanied by that sorrow that we mentioned, a deep sadness. In the case of nostalgia, the state can remain the same, or even improve, when we think of beautiful things we have experienced. Thus, in nostalgia we can feel happy and joyful, and in melancholy precisely the opposite happens.

4. Wanting to go back to the past

Although this is very personal, in general, melancholy is an emotion that makes us want to go back to the past, to want to stay in it. It saddens us to think that we are not there; That is why it is an emotion where sorrow and misfortune are the protagonists.

Instead, Nostalgia is not so much the desire to want to return to the past, but rather, the desire to want to remember it. It is an ode to the past, a small tribute, like a flash that comes to our mind and makes us smile.

Melancholy wants to return to the past, while nostalgia wants to remember it.

Melancholy and nostalgia: everyone lives them in their own way

We have seen some of the differences between melancholy and nostalgia, although logically, each person will experience these emotions in a different and unique way. Thus, there is so many melancholies and so many nostalgia as people in the world. In this article we have only tried to break down the parts of each concept that can be differentiated, although, we insist, it is very difficult to “pigeonhole” emotions.

Be that as it may, both emotions are proof that we have lived, felt and surely, also loved intensely. Feeling both melancholy and nostalgia is the price of being alive. If we feel these emotions, although sometimes they cause us pain and sadness (more melancholy than nostalgia), let’s not try to repress them, If not the opposite. Let’s try to find out the message they bring with them, what they are trying to tell us; Surely, that message is a treasure for the soul.

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