Pre-Nostalgia - by Kelly Hong - Kelly’s Substack

Lately, I’ve been feeling a lot of pre-nostalgia—the bittersweet feeling of longing for the present moment as you’re living in it. It’s the feeling I get when my housemates and I gather in our living room, laughing and talking late into the night. Recalling stories of shared experiences and reflecting on how much we’ve grown over the past few years, it creates this mutual feeling of genuine appreciation for one another. How did I get so lucky to live with some of my closest friends? I get to come home to them everyday, catch up while making breakfast, and create plans together for the next day as we get ready for bed—it all seems like a normal occurrence now, but I know how much I’ll miss it in the future when we’re living separately. I also got this feeling when I was sitting on the rocks at Lake Anza with another group of friends, chatting about our lives post-grad and reminiscing about our spontaneous Yosemite trip that made us friends in the first place. I remember feeling so prese

Lately, I’ve been feeling a lot of pre-nostalgia—the bittersweet feeling of longing for the present moment as you’re living in it. It’s the feeling I get when my housemates and I gather in our living room, laughing and talking late into the night. Recalling stories of shared experiences and reflecting on how much we’ve grown over the past few years, it creates this mutual feeling of genuine appreciation for one another. How did I get so lucky to live with some of my closest friends? I get to come home to them everyday, catch up while making breakfast, and create plans together for the next day