Although I have always been rather sentimental with objects and family past times, I would say that within the last five years I've become much more sentimental in a way that evokes complicated and unfamiliar feelings. For example, movies or books that deal with life issues has had a much greater appeal than previously. The first time I actually noticed this was when I read the book Dr. Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. The book was pleasing to read although it was also disorienting because I was upset with the main character Dr. Zhivago for, what I saw as, screwing up everything in his life. He strayed from his devoted wife to enter into an affair with another woman, which essentially led to him losing his family. The whole time I just kept thinking about his wife and kids and what he missed out on for the sake of a personal indulgence. Anyways, it left me feeling sad for his family and I had little pity for the guy. Now this is something that wouldn't have interested me in my "younger" years, but since I have a family and kids I am very opinionated about being responsible and devoted and could not imagine throwing everything I've worked for, for my family and I, out the window. So lately, based on my experience with actually having a wife and kids, I can relate to movies or books in a way I never had before. So plots where one lived a life without "getting it" and finally come to realize that they have been missing out on life, move me a way I cannot fully explain. So do plots where the family and/or children have suffered at the expense of someone who is coming to realized their lost time and try to make amends. A movie I saw recently that followed a similar theme, and that caused my eyes to water up, was a movie called Everybody's Fine. Also movies that touch upon the importance of brotherhood can touch me in similar ways as well, movies like Saving Private Ryan and Ladder 49.
So what is going on here? I wonder if other SLI's have experienced anything similar, or perhaps this is just univerally human and not personality dependent. Have I been slowly integrating feeling functions into my introverted sensing as I've gained certain life experiences? Feeling just kind of creeps up unexpectedly and catches me off guard and I'm usually totally unprepared for it. It can make it difficult to deal with. If somthing sentiment evokes a feeling, my first reaction is, "oh no, not this, not now."
My apologies, but I have to explore this theme a little. I had a cousin pass away the other other day from a long bout with cancer; he was only fifteen. I tend to explore life themes during times like these. I don't want to talk about this in particular and am not looking for any sympathy, but just trying to explain what brought this on.