Feeling wistful
Feeling wistful means a gentle, slightly sad longing for something you’ve lost or can’t have, such as a time, a place or a person.
What does feeling wistful feel like?
It’s quieter than grief and sweeter than regret. A song from when you were fifteen, the smell of a house you once lived in, a photo of friends you’ve drifted from, and for a moment you’d give a lot to be back there. Then it passes, and you carry on, a little softer than before.
Wistful or pensive?
Wistful always wants something: a summer that’s over, a road not taken. Pensive doesn’t need to want anything. It’s being deep in thought with a serious look on your face, perhaps over a decision or a worry. A wistful smile is for what’s gone; a pensive frown is still working something out.
In a sentence
- “She gave a wistful smile when she saw her old bike in the shed.”
- “Autumn always makes me a little wistful.”
- “He talked wistfully about the years they’d spent by the sea.”
Where it sits on the wheel
Wistful is in the outer ring, under Reflective › Nostalgic.
A gentle prompt
What do you find yourself wishing for? Let yourself write about it gently.
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Something to go with it
More gentle questions, one at a time, if you’d like to keep going.
Feelings near wistful
Nostalgic (one ring in)
Wistful is a soft longing, for the past or for something that can’t be; nostalgic is always about the past.
Sentimental (also under Nostalgic)
Wistful longs for something; sentimental is warmed by a memory or an object.
Bittersweet (also under Nostalgic)
Wistful is a soft longing; bittersweet holds happiness and sadness at the same time.
About the feelings wheel
Wistful is one of the 104 words on the Slow Days feelings wheel, and the list of feelings has them all. The wheel isn’t a test or a diagnosis.