What do you remember?

Forget the prompts. Forget the notes and scribbles. Don’t look at your planner or calendar. Don’t look at your photo albums (ahem, physical or digital). Do not look at your Twitter stream or media bookmarks.

What do you remember?

I’ve always had a naturally swiss cheesey / sieve-like memory (i.e. I forget a lot of things, have a hard time retaining information with one-pass, etc.). This is something that I have to work to overcome.

Enter: calendars • notebooks • souvenirs • photos • sticky-notes • coloured pens… (Stationary obsession? Is this why you exist?!)

But, in my humble opinion, there is (a) healthy dependence and then there is (b) crippling dependence. Slippery slope.

these are my confessions:
• I have this dangerous reliance on my GoogleCalendar. To the point where sometimes I will have forgotten what day something happened, or what I’d done the previous Thursday. So I will look back to check.
• Or (and I know I’m not alone in this) – some kind of request on my time comes my way, and I defer the decision with a quick (accepted, and understood) “Let me check my calendar and get back to you.”

Stop. What the hell are we doing? I wonder how much of this ties in to this epidemic of defaulting to “I’m busy“…

try this: Take the 168 hours of the past full week, Monday – Sunday. (Ok, sleeping, showering, pooping, etc. gets you a pass.) What do you remember?

A rogue thought that keeps re-visiting me is this: maybe those are the only things that count.

Are they? Let me think about it… (and not consult my notes).

Humbly, ~ H

The big dots of the post

• Point of contention: if it doesn’t stick in your memory, is it truly worth remembering (long-term)?
• There’s a difference between collecting moments and hoarding memories.
• Don’t be so hard on yourself. Forgive forgetting. It’s allowed sometimes.
• If we can’t keep track of our lives, maybe it’s a sign we’re doing too much yet being too little…

Do you have a hard time remembering without the myriad of tools at our disposal? Is it time we start flexing that brain muscle to be the primary keeper of our memories?

Related:
• “Pictures or It Didn’t Happen…” on Truth and Cake.
• There are industries built on preserving memories. Take photography, for one. Apparently, this is the latest trend in the couples / wedding photography industry… #ThingsThatMakeYouGoHmmm
• How Timeline could shape our memory of our lives.
• Ellen plays with others’ Facebook.

P.S. I don’t think it’s right to talk about remembering, specifically in November, without respecting history and remembering the lessons taught by our collective history. This year, I hope you’ve made the time to make “Remembrance Day” your own, whatever that looks like. Finding a veteran, or family members of veteran soldiers, to hear their stories; doing some research into the history; understanding the causes and effects of war. Do something that represents these big things in a way that resonates with you. Make it matter past a post or a tweet. Give a damn. My respect to the fallen masses, without whom I would not be living the life I am today. “We stand on the shoulders of giants.”