Saudade is the complex and subjective feeling that can be defined as a bittersweet longing for a period in the past. It is frequently associated with „deterioration of old age,“ but it can appear at any stage of life. It is mediated by hormones, neurotransmitters and cognitive processes. Saudade is the burning desire to go back to the past, live the life we once had. We want experiences, places, things, people, and even ourselves to go back to what once was. When we see, hear, touch or even smell something we remember the past. We feel melancholic and scared that we might never experience it again. Accepting the past and what will no longer be in order to live in the present, with the knowledge that this pain also defines part of who we are and this inevitably creates a mixture of contradictory feelings.

– Cecilia Bartolino & Carlos Aller