Enatia (noun) — an intense emotional state where one feels deep nostalgia for a time and place they never lived in. It is a blend of pseudo-nostalgia, liminality, and anachronistic longing, often triggered by memories, images, sounds, or smells associated with another person’s childhood — especially from the early 2000s or 90s
You feel enatia when you imagine yourself in a past era — living someone else’s memories as if they were your own. It’s watching a VHS-like scene of warm summer evenings, feeling like you’re inside the head of your older brother in 2009, or dreaming of running around a courtyard in 2002, even though you were born in 2012. It often includes ambient music, imagined camera noise, and emotional weight so strong it brings tears.
You feel enatia when you imagine yourself in a past era — living someone else’s memories as if they were your own. It’s watching a VHS-like scene of warm summer evenings, feeling like you’re inside the head of your older brother in 2009, or dreaming of running around a courtyard in 2002, even though you were born in 2012. It often includes ambient music, imagined camera noise, and emotional weight so strong it brings tears.
“I was lying in bed, and the smell of my old home hit me.
Suddenly, I saw myself in 2008 — as if I had lived there.
That was pure enatia.”
Suddenly, I saw myself in 2008 — as if I had lived there.
That was pure enatia.”
by pearwzhr August 25, 2025
Get the Enatia mug.