🐼 Keep the moments you want to…
But leave them ASAP instead of living them.
Heyaa
How often do you think about memories?
I don't mean happy or sad, just ‘memories’… like a thing, a chunk of data that your brain can pull out. Ever thought of it in that way?
Your brain gets a visual stimulus or an auditory one, and a random piece of memory comes rushing. Sometimes, you hear a song and see a scene lifting its covers in your head.
You have no idea how it happens. It just happens, and you go down memory lane.
Do you wish you could control it?
Yes, control the memories. You can create those, so you can delete those, too.
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OK, back to my story…
For me, this urge to control started when Facebook started showing me “Memories” from the past. A few things I no longer wish to remember.
Now, as I am writing, you can safely assume I still remember those. But what I did was I deleted the physical remnants (FB posts, photos and chats)... things that won’t trigger those memories unwantedly.
Google Photos and OneDrive also do the same. Maybe I should back all photos somewhere up and delete everything from Google and Microsoft’s memories, too.
We don't keep sad memories anyway. But we keep the happy ones… to look over someday and feel sad that those days won’t return. Interesting, isn’t it?
Deleting works somewhat. Not every time or for every memory, but it works. Over the years, you start forgetting those as you create new ones.
Now, I’m not suggesting deleting everything. Keep the moments you want to… click them, draw them, write about them, do whatever you want to. But leave them ASAP instead of living them.
Lock them away. Have you seen how people in movies leave a town because it reminds them of something? Just like that. Deprive your memories of any stimulus to come rushing back to you.
Live just in the present. And you'll be in control of your memories.
Sometimes, some memories still find a way to drip out of the lock. You can’t do anything much about those.
In those moments, live them (like I lived a few while writing this newsletter). Live them, but only for that moment. A moment more, and you'll get teary-eyed.
You might not subscribe to my philosophy. And it’s totally fine.
It’s just that this works for me. When memories flood me, I choose which one I want to live in at that moment and which one to leave.
It's because I can choose the memories out of the drawers when I have to - the important ones or the useless ones - that I can go on living this nightmare of a life.
I have enough drama already, and I don't want the past ones haunting me or driving me into the narrow alley of nostalgia.
Sorry if I woke up a few of your dead bats today. But this is it.
Bidding adieu.
Live long and prosper.
See you next week, with another story.