Nostalgia puts a filter on everything. Those old days had homework and heartbreak too.

Looking back removes the texture of ordinary difficulty. The boredom, the small humiliations and the things you worried about constantly all get dropped, leaving an edited version that no present moment can compete with. Comparing now to a period that never quite existed will always make now look worse.

When the past starts looking untouchable, try to recall one thing you were genuinely anxious about then. It restores the scale. Then give the present the same generosity, since one day this is what you will be remembering.