Memories are the foundation of who we are, and gifts that keep giving. They are the warm residual happiness we feel while thinking about past Christmases spent with family. The lessons we learned about what it means to be kind, brave, strong, or respected. The exhilaration we can relive when we tell a story about an exciting or dangerous event in our lives. They create the world we live in by the way they shape our perspective of what it means to be human. We have this image of ourselves as complete, existing in only the present, never giving much thought to the countless moments before it that created who we are now.
We all have our favorite memories of the holidays. A snowball fight, a warm fire, that perfect present your parents sacrificed for, a dinner conversation with a loved one, or the first holiday spent with a new addition to your family. Many of us have also felt the emotions that awaken while contemplating time spent with loved ones who will never again be able to create new memories with us. These snapshots in time, both the joyful ones, and the ones that leave us longing for someone we can no longer hold onto. They are the most valuable things we have in our lives. They stand out because they’re all pieces that fit tightly together, culminating in the person you are today. Your values, your emotions, your view of individuals and society. They are all formed and solidified by the experiences you have and the memories created from them.
There are many good intentions that are never realized because our own internal resistance to them is stronger than our desire to see those intentions fulfilled. We need a big why to drive the change we want to see in ourselves. The subject of memories was on my mind while I was confronting for the thousandth time my resistance to writing/journaling more consistently. When “Arthur’s song” by the artist Atmosphere came on in my headphones, and these lyrics jarred my thinking.
“I’ve experienced a life full of accidents
Tryna write it all down before it vanishes
Wanna remember every adventure
But a percentage of ‘em only exist in the abyss”
How many of our memories are now lost to the darkness of the abyss? Drowned out by a barrage of nonsensical articles and videos that inundate us on a daily basis. Something clicked for me and my priorities started to shift. I started taking notes about everything I found important. I began looking at pictures and past writing with a nostalgic smile, reliving those moments in time. I finally realized the true value of writing things down, as well as taking copious amounts of pictures and videos.
This holiday season, take some time to live in the moments you have with family. Pull away from the distractions. Form some new memories, write them down, and take pictures. You will have something more valuable than the latest material possession or twitter post. You will have a snapshot of one of your building blocks. You will have a time machine, capable of looking back into the person you were and what you valued at a given moment. With each and every picture and pen stroke, you will create a priceless memory that can never be lost in that dreaded abyss.
