It's late at night, you're doing homework you meant to finish earlier, but Netflix only gave you 20 seconds to decide whether or not to be productive. You're listening to music on Spotify (or iTunes, or Pandora, or whatever you use), and that old song you haven't heard in years comes on. Ka-pow. 

Shocked, you stop your homework and highlight the song. You remember the first time you heard the song, or perhaps you remember something really significant about your past that was connected to that song.

And then it happens - the nostalgia. It hits you like a tidal wave: a tsunami of memories that punches you right in the face, like Floyd Mayweather. 

For me, that song was Shinedown's acoustic cover of "Simple Man." Back when I played football in high school, my team used to listen to that song all the time. We listened to it after practices, after victories, and after our only heart-breaking loss in the state semi-final. That was the last song I ever listened to in my old locker room. I remember gleaming in happiness, screaming in rage, and weeping in sadness to the song. It will always be a song of great meaning to me. 

After you hear that first nostalgic song, you begin to remember others. The song you and your first relationship that lasted more than three months shared. The song that helped you get over breaking up with your first relationship. The song you blasted at max volume in your mom's car after you walked out of the DMV with your license. The songs that your childhood best friend would show you. The songs that you showed your childhood best friend. How big is your list of songs you need to look up right now? 

When we get to college, we leave behind a lot of who we were. For the most part, it's a good thing. We break down our barriers and expand our knowledge and worldview. We try new things. We become new people. But during the stress of college, sometimes we leave behind too much of who we were. Sometimes we need a little bit of nostalgia to remind us of who we were, so we can remember who we are.

Obviously, time has changed us greatly from who we were before college to who we are now. We've (kind of) matured. We've developed new tastes. But in the hustle and bustle of college, we lock ourselves up in these little boxes we build for ourselves. And these boxes are our schedules - our time. We spend so much time going to class, being involved in Greek Life, being involved in other campus organizations, that we forget about some of the things we left in our mom's minivan on move-in day. 

For me, that was writing. I wrote for 4 years before college. It was my passion. I wrote fiction, poetry, articles - whatever came to my mind. But for some reason, I thought I wanted to major in business when I got to college. Ignoring my true passion, I went with the safe thing. Now that I've brought back a part of who I was, I feel better than I have in a long time. 

The moral of this story? If you're stressed, or you feel lost, or just are in need of a smile, go listen to those old songs. Let the nostalgia sink in. It might remind you of who you are, where you want to go, or at the very least, put a big smile on your face.