Back in the day...

The phrase "Back in the day" comes up a bit when either families are having a festive gathering or when an individual is having a conversation with someone. I have had moments when I feel that no matter what I do I can't seem to do anything right - and the first thing that comes to mind is maybe an old friend from back in the day that would be there to tell you that it's going to be fine so don't worry about it. I read an article the other day that would be nice to see done more and more herr in the US. Give the following a read and leave me a comment regarding what you read...

SOUTHAMPTON, England (UPI) -- Nostalgia amplifies perceptions of social support, and in this way, counteracts feelings of loneliness, British and Chinese researchers said.

Constantine Sedikides and Tim Wildschut from the University of Southampton, England, and Xinyue Zhou and Ding-Guo Gao from Sun Yat-Sen University, in China, ran a series of experiments that had participants answer questions related to feelings of loneliness, social support and nostalgia.

The study participants included children, college students and factory workers. In addition, the factory workers were also assessed on their resilience -- their ability to recover from traumatic events and adverse life situations.

The study, published in Psychological Science, found individuals who felt the loneliest reported receiving the least amount of social support.

However, when nostalgia was induced in a number of the study participants, they in turn perceived to have the greatest amount of social support.

These findings suggest nostalgia boosts perceptions of social support, and in this way, mitigates feelings of loneliness. In addition, the findings revealed that the most resilient individuals are more likely to use nostalgia to overcome feelings of loneliness.