Why?

I want to record the details of my daily life, the small wonders, and the quiet moments. Maybe they’re ordinary moments which may not seem valuable now, but they will become more so over time.

We might think that mundane things will stay the same forever, but they don’t.

I took the following notes from a vlogger that I admire called Riza :

Because we don’t know when we will die, we get to think of life as an inexhaustible well. Yet everything happens only a certain number of times, and a very small number really.

How many more times will you remember a certain afternoon of your childhood, an afternoon that is so deeply a part of your being that you can’t even conceive of your life without it? Perhaps four, five times more, perhaps not even that.

How many more times will you watch the full moon rise? Perhaps 20. And yet it all seems limitless.

Riza

How?

I’ve chosen a few different ways to help me capture memories, each one serves a different purpose and allows me to “romanticize” my adventures into something my future self will like.

Writing about my day

Writing is a way to clear up my thoughts. I don’t aim for perfection but I reserve some minutes to get it done. Some nights the words just flow, but some other nights I just write a simple sentence. It’s alright.

Somedays I find myself in the mood of reading the letters from my previous me. There is a profound sense of time traveling and seeing my past self. It’s like watching a time-lapse of my own growth, how I navigated anxieties and celebrated small wins, and slowly evolved into the person I am today.

This “diary” reminds me that even the “ordinary” days are building something significant.

Writing about my dreams

If you were able to remember a happy dream after you wake up, would you write the details for your future self? What about a nightmare? Would you avoid writing about it and attempt to forget it?

I’m not sure if I’m fortunate or unlucky to not be able to remember every dream or nightmare after I wake up, but when I do I try to write about it (one of the few cases where I use my phone while still in bed). Nightmares are difficult to write about and sometimes when it’s too sad I don’t.

Pictures

Taking a picture with a phone is so simple and easy. After sharing them with family and friends these digital files end up buried in a photo library, rarely checked and easily forgotten.

So, I got myself an Instax camera and took it on a trip abroad to India. There is something magical about it, the mechanical click of the shutter, the sound of the motor as the film ejects, and the time you spend looking at it as the colors slowly appear in the white frame. Maybe the picture is out of focus because I moved my hand when clicking the shutter, maybe it was too dark to take the picture. That’s ok, no problem if it’s not perfect, it’s for myself and I’m not looking for perfection.

Videos

I decided to document my life because of the feeling of sadness about forgotten memories. One day the algorithm presented a new song which was so catchy, I couldn’t get it out of my head and I had it on repeat. I liked the guitar melody a lot and I wanted to play it and so I started learning.

But then I got sad. Not because of the song I was learning but for the memories that somehow came to my mind from the time I was a teenager and I used to play the guitar. It’s becoming harder and harder to remember those times. Sometimes my family or friends remind me of something I used to do that I can no longer remember. That’s the feeling I feel.

I wish I had more memories about the past, but it’s never too late to realize that and to start collecting memories using photos and videos.

Junk Journaling

I spent a couple of weeks in Japan and it changed my life. The memories of the tasty and unique food, riding in the Shinkansen, drinking hot honey tea from a vending machine in a cold day, watching the fall colors, eating matcha ice cream, and so many unique experiences made my trip very special.

How do I remember these special moments? I can take pictures and videos but I wished I had something else, something that’s more physical. I love my wall of polaroids from my favorite life moments, every picture makes me travel back in time and makes me smile.

But what about the physical objects that seem so simple in the moment and easily discarded? It’s easy to discard objects that you don’t think are worth saving like receipts from ATMs, a receipt from eating in a restaurant, train tickets, cookies and candy wraps.

So, I decided to save these objects and start junk journaling. I bought a notebook, a zink printer, removable glue, scissors, washi tape and markers. And then I started filling the notebook with receipts, pictures, notes, stickers. It takes a lot of time and effort to make a single page, but it’s worth it because it’s for me. It’s a fun hobby that I probably enjoyed a lot when I was a little kid (and still do!).

I wonder what other things I have forgotten that were very fun to do.

Reflecting on my life

Every 4 months, I write a small essay about my life for that 4-month period. Every year on my birthday, I write a longer essay about my life during the past year. I capture highlights about the things that I did and the progress on the objectives I set for myself. Writing these thoughts is a great way to reflect on the good and bad things of my life.