Life Is A Lottery.
And we only got one.
“Hey, come stand here so we can take a picture,” said someone who wanted to capture a beautiful moment.
“Ugh, more pictures,” came a response accompanied by an eye roll.
Have you ever been in a similar moment whether it was you asking for the picture or you complaining about it? Why do we do this?
It’s because we often take for granted the experiences we have. We don’t realize how important they’ll become when looked back upon in the future or how sad it will be when we realize we should have cherished the moments while they lasted.
Life brings us so many beautiful things that turn into the memories we make. Would you have been able to make the memory of that night at the campfire if you were all alone instead of with your close group of friends? Nope. Would you have been able to make the same memories at your house instead of going to Paris for a vacation? Most likely no. Would you have changed your profile picture if you didn’t wear that killer outfit? Definitely not.
Life gave to you all your favorite people, including family, friends, colleagues, teachers, and coworkers. Life allowed you to travel to the places you did. Life also placed that killer outfit in front of you that day you wore it. Our memories wouldn’t be the same without these small factors, and that’s what makes our memories so important.
And that’s what we take for granted.
The Giver is a book about a community not being able to access their memories of war, pain, love, and color. Instead, all the forgotten memories were transferred to the Giver, the only person who actually knew what life was like. The lives of the people of the community were boring and just on a repeated cycle — wake up, work, eat, sleep, repeat. It was all colorless. Is that what we want?
When we take pictures and videos, we’re capturing the beautiful moments that life brought to us. We’re allowing ourselves to look back at these moments. We’ll be able to relive that moment all over again through the capture of it. It won’t be the same but at least it’s something.
These moments can make us smile. Or laugh. Or bring us tears of joy or sadness or even anger. But without them, would we be able to have feelings in the same way? Nope. And that’s what makes memories so important.
Moreover, memories don’t only have to be the fun moments, they can also be of the not-so-fun ones because they’re supposed to be all the experiences we have. When we lose at something or don’t do as well as we thought we would, we’re learning — and that’s an experience or a life lesson.
Memories include all of what we’ve learned thus far and the ones that we can look back upon to determine the difference between right and wrong. We can use them to learn from our mistakes and make better decisions. We all have those moments, but our ability to learn from them is what determines how much we’ve grown as an individual.
Now through all this, the point is often brought up that life also brought us all the negativity and suffering, didn’t it? Yes, it did. But it’s also the same life that brought us our close allies, that can help us through the bad. It’s also the same life that continuously gives us opportunities to be better. To get better.
It’s up to you to decide whether you’re going to let the bad outweigh the good or vice versa. We tend to let the negativity consume us when we need to remember that positivity will bring us out and let us see the light again.
If we constantly look for the bad, when will we have time to look at the good?
Final Thoughts
Memories must be cherished. They’re a part of who we are and will always be with us, no matter what. From them, we can look back on our past selves and see how much we’ve grown, changed, and bettered as individuals. We can smile, laugh, cry, or do whatever, but they’re the color in our lives. Without them, it’s just colorless. No bright yellows, royal purples, or somber blues — it’s just this plain, “bleh” life without the beauty that comes from these memories.
So, the next time you’re with a friend and having the time of your life; watching or reading a classic; or about to eat the tastiest meal ever, capture the moment. And then look back on them later in life and cherish them.
Don’t ever forget:
Life is a lottery. And we only got one.
Thanks for reading! Until next time, stay safe, happy, and healthy.
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