Rose tinted glasses

You kind of need to think sometimes, when I reminisce about something, how much fun was it, *really*?

Nostalgia can be a wonderful thing, you can sit and think of old times for hours, talk about it with old friends for days, or focus on it for years.
But was it really all that good?
Just how much does nostalgia block out the bad?

I'm a nostalgic guy, I love talking about times gone by and sit and think about how things used to be. But just this morning, I was looking through old pictures and I saw a photo of my friends.
At a friends birthday party.
That I wasn't invited to.
It reminded me 'Hold on, I was depressed through most of highschool, wasn't I?'. I couldn't think why I would so often look back on those days as fondly as I do, I couldn't stand them. There was one up point in my schooling, which was getting a girlfriend, but to a 14-17 year old, what more could you want? Hah!

Being fond of nostalgia basically comes down to experience.
We don't pass judgement on something without comparing it to something else.
For example, in highschool, you may have bought an album and loved it to bits because compared to the other albums you had bought, it was amazing.
You would then look fondly back on to the songs from that album and remember get the sense of joy you originally had, even though nowadays you wouldn't have touched the band with a ten-foot-pole.

So is nostalgia a good thing or a bad thing? Should we be fighting to remember the truth in it's actual context instead of our own thoughts?
On one hand, nostalgia can give you a sense of comfort, and there is nothing like catching up with friends and talking about the 'good old days'.
Or should we think about everything from our past not in the context in which it happened, but rather the context of us as we are now?
It would give us a better sense of perspective if we ignored the context of the past, we wouldn't spend our time thinking back and saying "I remember when things were better...", but on the other hand, how much of those warm memories are the reason to push you forward? "It was good back then, it will get better again."

It's down to personal choice, really.