Figuring out your “why” for memory keeping

Figuring out your “why” for memory keeping can be one of the most important tasks that you do before you get started in your memory keeping journey. It can feel daunting or intimidating, but it’s crucial in the process in order to better understand your driving factor for why you’re going to keep going on these tasks. Memory keeping can be time consuming, but having a clear reason why gives you the motivation to keep going.

WHAT IS MEMORY KEEPING?

"Memory keeping is any thing you do to document your current or past memories for you or someone else to review and reflect on later. This can be in the form of images, journaling, video, or anything else that evokes the recall of moments in our life." To read more about how I define memory keeping, check out this page.

The task of memory keeping can be daunting or feel like a chore, but if you have a clear reason then it keeps you going. Also, your “why” gives a focus to what you’re doing--no more random iPhone pictures just sitting in an unorganized album on your phone. And finally, having a reason why allows you to have a meaning behind spending time on something like memory keeping. Hear a more in depth explanation on our podcast.

Here is my why:

To document the every day for my family and turn simple moments into memories so we have a life to look back on for years to come.

What do you want to leave behind when you die?

I was listening to a podcast earlier about scrapbooking and memory keeping in general. They were talking about how they imagine their funeral; the room is filed with scrapbooks and all of the people that they love are flipping through each book and remembering the moments that they captured with bits of paper and tons of photos. This really got me thinking about why I memory keep. Because honestly, I memory keep for this exact reason. I memory keep with the intention of leaving something behind so that future family members can watch my videos, flip through my journals, and glance at my scrapbooks to remember who I was/am.

I should mention though that memory keeping doesn’t just have to be for those to review when you’re gone. Memory keeping even right now, for me, is totally about reliving certain moments over again. I love flipping through my Our Story scrapbook and remembering the moments when I fell in love with my now husband. I love rewatching vlogs from when him and I took our first trip back to Indiana to visit my family. I love reading old journal entries and laughing at how silly I sounded and how much I’ve grown. All of these moments of memory keeping matter for future generations, but they also matter for you now.

Today, I am going to share with you three reasons why I think everyone should memory keep. They are reasons that I memory keep, but they are also reasons why I think most can find something to motivate themselves to memory keep as well. Whether your reason of memory keeping is for current you, future you, or even others after you’re gone, your story should be documented.

If you’re struggling with your reason why, here are 3 reasons I believe everyone should memory keep:

1. it’s not something you can regret doing, but is something you will regret not doing

I’ve spent entire days scrapbooking. A whole Saturday just sitting at my desk, or on my floor, or even on my bed just sticking down bits of paper, cutting up different stickers, and placing down important photos in order to memorialize an event in my scrapbook. I have never once regretted that time. However, I do regret the years that I wasn’t vlogging. I regret the moments in my relationship with my husband where we were prepping for our wedding and I did not think to pick up the camera. I regret those items I did not document that I know were so important to me at the time.

I think that no matter how you are focusing on capturing your memories, there will never be a time that you capture something too much or capture something that you regret later in life. That being said though, later in life there are things that you will regret not capturing more of. So, I say this to you today—memory keeping is not something that you can regret doing now, but it is something that you will regret not doing later on.

2. self reflection of your past allows you to grow into your future

Getting a little more spiritual on you with this one, but I like to use memory keeping (especially journaling) as a means to reflect on my past. As I sit down to journal and document the little parts of the day that happened, I think about how those things guided me and how they have/will change me from here on out. It’s funny because even if in the moment of journaling I do not understand how this reflection is growing me, it always seems to shape me into something new later in life. Most months I try to reflect largely (and typically in regards to goals) here on my blog. This is one way that reflection of your past allows you to grow your future.

Self reflection is enormously important in the growth of yourself as a human, member of society, mother, sister, etc. If you think about each of these rolls you play and reflect on how you currently are then there is no doubt that your self reflection won’t in turn cause you to grow and change.

3. your story matters, but you’re going to have to be the one to document it

I don’t know how else to put this other than bluntly—you’re the only one capable of documenting your honest life. It is your responsibility to be your own history, maybe even your family’s historian. You have to be the one to document the average every day happenings of your life. You can hire photographers, videographers, or memory keeping assistants, but no one is going to be able to fully tell your life in the same way that you can. You are the ones looking through your own lens, experiencing the real things, and full living in these moments, so you are the one who has to document your memories.

Time and time again, I will continue to say “your story matters,” because honestly it does! It matters to me, it matters to your children and family, and it matters to others in this beautiful memory keeping community. We want to help you on this journey, but ultimately you have to be the captain of this ship and guide your story to it’s ultimate end. But along the way, remember that there are others here to help you as long as you remember that it’s your story, it matters, and you’re important.

finding your why

But even if you know that this mission is something that is bigger than your personal life, you still need to find your why. Ask yourself, why do you want to memory keep? Why is it important to you that these memories be captured? And why are you taking the time to document all of these things? Finding your why can be the easiest thing, or it can be the hardest. My why is constantly changing, and that’s not a bad thing either. But currently—my why for my family is because I want to document the every day and turn simple moments into memories so we have a life to look back on for years to come. But my why for encouraging you all to memory keep and writing this blog is because I want to show others that memory keeping is something that everyone can do no matter how consumed and busy they feel like their life is.