Time Travelers Walk Among Us
What We Can Learn About Our Pull to the Past
Hey Club Crew,
This stamp took some major brain power. I knew I had to put time into shaping it, and not just fit the word into the title. So when I sat down to create the Time Traveler personality for the Places Stamps collection, I realized I was staring into something vast, almost overwhelming in its scope. But that's exactly why this stamp matters so much, and why understanding the pull you have to the past might be more relevant to your daily life than you think.
Not sure if this is your stamp? Find out HERE.
The Time Traveler Stamp is the second of the Connection & Community pillar. For more information about all eight stamps, see the STAMP COLLECTION. Be sure to download the Time Traveler Planner and Journal at the end of this post, too! Just like the People Magnet one, this walks through a month of self-discovery and action planning.
The Pull We Can't Explain
There's something deeply human about being drawn to places where others have lived, loved, struggled, and dreamed before us. You don't need a history degree to claim this stamp. You just need that spark of recognition when you walk into a place with stories to tell. Maybe you're the person who:
Runs your hand along old brick walls, wondering about the hands that laid them
Gets goosebumps in old churches, feeling the weight of centuries of prayers
Chooses the historic inn over the modern hotel every time
Or maybe you feel a connection with your old self
That's the pull of the past. It's not just about dates or facts. It's about recognition.
What Science Tells Us About Historical Connection
Research suggests our brains are wired for story and pattern recognition. When we encounter places rich with human history, we're not just observing—we're completing a circuit that connects us to the broader human experience. Environmental psychologists call this "place attachment. " It’s the same big picture theory behind my own seeking and creation of YOUR Places Club. But for Time Travelers, it goes deeper.
Perhaps you're responding to what researchers term "collective memory." It is the way communities and cultures hold onto their stories through physical spaces. When you feel that pull toward historical places, you're tapping into something fundamental: the human need to understand where we fit in the great story of our species.
Beyond the History Books
Being a Time Traveler is also much more personal and immediate than just to amaze with dates and facts. You can tap into it in that moment when you walk into a space and feel something shift inside you. Maybe it's nostalgia, maybe it's a wish for a life different from yours now, maybe it's simply recognition that this place holds stories worth knowing.
Your "history" could be two months ago, two years ago, or two decades ago. The abandoned shopping mall from your childhood, the pizza place where you had your first date, the elementary school playground that's now a parking lot—these are YOUR historical sites, and they matter just as much as any ancient ruin.
An example, you ask. Sure thing.
Recently, my husband and I ventured into a roller skating rink during our RV travels. The moment we laced up those skates, we were 10 years old again. The lights, the smell of deep-fried and sugary treats, the feeling of floating to music—suddenly we were time-traveling together and discovering a whole new side of each other. We learned we'd both spent countless hours at rinks in our youth, and there we were, over achy joints and overworked knees, connecting not just to our own past but to the universal experience of childhood joy.
That's what this stamp is really about. What the past means to you and the places that help you tap into it.
What Belfast Also Taught Me About Living Memory
One of the most impactful historical experiences I've had wasn't in a museum. It was on a bus tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland. Seeing the remnants of not-so-distant conflicts was eye-opening. The walls, the significance of colors, the amazing murals telling stories of struggle and hope. This wasn't distant history. This was living memory, affecting real people today.
That tour taught me something crucial: our pull to the past isn't about escaping the present. It's about understanding that history isn't just "back then." It's the continuous story we're all part of, and understanding it helps us understand ourselves and our world right now.
The Psychology of Place Memory
What draws Time Travelers to certain places? Research suggests several factors:
Emotional Resonance: Places that housed intense human experiences—love, loss, triumph, struggle—seem to hold that energy. We're drawn to locations where people felt deeply.
Sensory Triggers: Old buildings carry scents, sounds, and textures that activate our memory centers, even if we've never been there before. That musty smell in a castle stairwell or the echo of footsteps on stone can transport us instantly.
Pattern Recognition: Our brains are constantly looking for familiar patterns. Historical places often follow design principles and spatial arrangements that feel "right" to us across cultures and centuries.
Story Hunger: Humans are narrative creatures. Places with rich stories satisfy our deep need to understand how life unfolds over time.
Making Time Travel Part of Your Life
(More about this in the Planner & Journal below.)
You know what fascinates me about time? It feels completely different depending on our age and experiences. When you're 8 years old, last summer feels like ancient history. When you're 50, the last decade can feel like it happened yesterday.
So when we talk about being a Time Traveler, we're not just talking about ancient civilizations that are far away.
Your Local Adventures (Start This Weekend!)
Visit your hometown's historical society
Walk through your oldest local neighborhood and imagine who lived there 50 years ago
Ask your parents or grandparents about their childhood memories of places you know
Check out your local library's historical photo collection
Follow Your Curiosity
Interested in fashion? Visit costume exhibits at local museums
Love food? Explore the history of your favorite cuisine through ethnic neighborhoods
Fascinated by technology? Find old machinery museums or preserved factories
Into genealogy? Start with your own family's story
Create Your Own Time Capsules
Keep ticket stubs, photos, and notes from meaningful places
Write about how places make you feel, not just what you learned
Share stories with others or record an oral history
Start a "then and now" photo collection of your hometown
Practice Present-Moment Time Travel
In any old building, pause and imagine the conversations that happened there
At antique stores, hold objects and wonder about their previous owners
When you see old photos, study the backgrounds—what was daily life like then?
Visit old cemeteries and check out the headstones
Hang On—I'm Going Deep for a Moment
What can we learn from our pull to the past? Several profound things:
We're all connected across time: That feeling of recognition in historical places reminds us that human nature is remarkably consistent. People have always loved, feared, hoped, and dreamed.
Context shapes everything: Understanding how people lived in different eras gives us perspective on our current challenges and opportunities.
Place matters: The environments we create and inhabit shape who we become, both individually and collectively.
Stories are medicine: Connecting with the experiences of those who came before us can heal isolation and provide wisdom for our own journeys.
The Time Traveler stamp matters because it addresses something fundamental about being human: our need to belong to something larger than our individual moment.
So the next time you trace your finger along moss-lined stone walls, stand in a cathedral where centuries of prayers have been whispered, or touch the worn bannister of a staircase climbed by thousands of feet over decades, know that you're plugging into the great human story.
This doesn't have to be about escaping your present life. It can be about enriching it. Understanding how people before us lived, struggled, celebrated, and overcame challenges gives us perspective on our own journey. It reminds us that we're part of an ongoing story, that our current problems aren't unprecedented, and that humans have always found ways to create beauty and meaning regardless of their circumstances.
Your Personal Journey Forward
The great part of the Time Traveler stamp, just like all the others, is that it's entirely yours to define. Are you drawn to:
Ancestry exploration: Tracking your family's story through places and documents?
Cultural immersion: Learning how different societies solved life's challenges?
Empathy building: Understanding perspectives from different eras?
Creative inspiration: Finding stories that spark your imagination?
Wisdom seeking: Looking for timeless lessons about human nature?
None of these approaches is more "right" than the others. While along the way you may just become a historian, the real goal is to become more connected to the richness of human experience.
Start Where You Are
Being a Time Traveler doesn't require grand expeditions or extensive research. It requires presence, curiosity, and the willingness to see every place as a chapter in humanity's ongoing story.
Start tomorrow by noticing the oldest building on your daily route. This weekend, visit one local historical site you've always meant to explore. Next month, plan a trip that feeds your particular brand of time travel curiosity.
The past isn't distant—it's all around you, in the places where people lived and loved and built the world you've inherited. Your Time Traveler stamp recognizes that you have the gift of feeling those connections and honoring those stories.
Dear Time Travelers,
You are the keepers of stories, the bridge builders between past and present. You understand that every place holds layers of human experience, and you have the gift of feeling those connections in your bones. Thank you for embracing time as precious, for honoring those who came before us, and for keeping their stories alive through your curiosity and reverence. You recognize that understanding where we've been helps us navigate where we're going.
Thank you for seeing beyond the surface to the soul of a place. Your willingness to step into the past transforms not just your own understanding, but also enriches everyone around you.
The world needs your gift of connection. Your ability to make the past feel alive and relevant for all of us is very worthwhile.
Keep exploring, keep wondering, keep connecting.
Natalie
P.S. Your Time Traveler Planner and Journal is waiting below. It includes a month of prompts and exercises to deepen this beautiful aspect of who you are.
What place calls to the Time Traveler in you? Also, please share your questions and suggestions in the comments.