Nostalgia restores meaning in life for lonely people

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I feel like this research is timely because loneliness has been on the rise for a number of years and the pandemic has likely exacerbated this. Loneliness is associated with feeling like your life lacks meaning and purpose. I think our findings suggest that nostalgia could be a simple and accessible strategy to restore meaning in life and combat loneliness. Our intention though is not to advocate that nostalgia is a standalone strategy for meeting the need for meaning and combating loneliness. Rather we think that it is best to acknowledge that nostalgia is a temporary strategy to fortify MIL and argue that nostalgia’s power resides in encouraging more lasting meaning-making strategies, which is something we plan to pursue in the near future.

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