Living, Capturing and Reliving Memories
Sahale Greenwood
The Santa Clara
April 25, 2019
It has been two weeks since my trip to Big Sur, but I am still rewatching the video I created to remind myself of all the human connections I made and the beautiful views I saw.
But is having that memory vividly available to me worth the stress I felt in trying to capture all those memories on camera? Absolutely.
Editing the video and making artistic choices about the music and pace allowed me to artistically recreate my trip. It gave me the opportunity to relive and reflect on how the trip made me feel.
The style you choose to commemorate those experiences may vary, but the objective is always the same: keep all the memories you can and never stop reliving your best moments.
A popular smartphone app, “1 Second Everyday,” encourages people to take one-second videos every day for a year to commemorate high points in their lives. This is similar to the five to 10-second videos I took on my backpacking trip—I just did a weekend version instead of a year. I choose the best moments of each video, arranged them in the order I wanted and put it to music.
The benefits of embarking on this project is that you solidify memories and can look back at your amazing times. You can also share your experience with others, as people watching the movie feel like they were there themselves.
People lose memories over time if they do not stop to write them down or capture them on camera, forgetting the little things. You may remember the best sunset you ever saw over the water, but forget bonding with other campers at the top of the steep hill you just climbed because you all have sweat pouring into your eyes. I believe that the little details are the most valuable memories.
But for some people, pulling out your phone or camera and focusing on capturing moments tarnishes that memory by adding stress to an otherwise amazing experience. For others this is too large of an obstacle to justify the film produced at the end. But, there is a middle ground, a way to remember the little important details that color our experiences so much without having unnecessary stress: journaling.
Get a pocket-sized thought notebook and just write anything that comes to mind. This way you create concrete memories without feeling the stress or disconnection that may come with a camera.
Regardless of whether you like film, photography or journaling, memories are precious so we must do everything we can to optimize creating and cherishing them.
Sahale Greenwood is a sophomore political science and communication double major.