Sometimes we take for granted our time here on this earth.
At any moment our life plans could be pulled from right under our feet. The plans you have to travel Europe are no longer possible, and the family you've dreamt about having are no longer in the distance.
I've taken a lot from this life and have given it very little. I haven't been thankful enough for the times in my life— the places I've been, the people I've met, and surely the things I own. All of which could be gone in the matter of seconds. But I don't consider that.
Most of us are blind to the moment. Instead of living and cherishing important times we turn to our phones to photograph it, for what? To remember it later? But we smiled for 10 seconds then go on our way. What is memorable about that? Instead of living we document. We lose the purpose of the adventure, to see and to learn, and replace it with a camera roll and coles notes.
I never considered thinking like this until I lost my mom. I was sitting in my bedroom days after she passed away and was scrounging up photographs to make a slideshow for the visitation. I flip through my phone and I found hundreds of photos, silly videos, photos from holidays and the day-to-day. Then sadness drew upon me... there's moments captured on my phone that I realized I didn't appreciate. I snapped a photo and stored it in my phone as if the photo was going to bare any significance more than the experience? I found this photo of us at a store where she wrote on a childs sketching toy "Bianca's a beauty," but I can't even remember what store we were at, why were we there? But I know that if I chose to forget about photographing the moment and deciding to live in it I would remember that memory a little more clearly. This isn't to say 'don't take photos', of course capture those special moments, but more so a reminder to not forget about living in the moment as you document it.
I think social media has ruined living in the moment for our generation. It is more often than not that we choose to go places or see people just so we can take a photo and post it on our feed. And when you think about that doesn't it seem weird? Social media has almost become this game where those who don't post about who their with, where they are, or what they're doing then they lose. Life is an endless rat race, a furious competition for acknowledgement and power. The more posts I make, the more likes I get, and the more people who follow me the better social status I have... right?
Wrong.
Would it be Spring without going to a winery?
Is it Summer without attending a cottage?
Would Fall totally pass us by if we didn't pick a pumpkin at the patch?
And maybe Winter would skip forward if we didn't go skating?
The answer is no... but these are the activities our generation deems important to do to stand out on social media. Our social status is rated based on what we do on a daily basis, are you a student or employee? Are you single or are you dating? Do you travel the world or do you never leave your city? Again, minuscule facts about our lives that are weighed and tallied to rank how satisfying our lives are to those looking in.
Remember that time you got in a fight with your significant other and almost broke up? I'm sure that didn't make it on the feed. Or the time you got rejected from University. Because our feeds are these time warps of what we want our lives to appear like, not what they truly are. We want people to believe we are happy-go-fun, not exhausted and lost along our journey.
When was the last time you sat down and had dinner with your family or friends and just spoke? No strings attached that the meal had to be visually appealing or that you needed to be at some 5 star restaurant? Probably been awhile right.
So take a moment
Stand back and reevaluate your situation. Disallow yourself to search for validation through views and likes and further through discussion and enlightenment. It won't be the memories you post on your social media account that matter in 30 years, it will be the honest times, the tough times, that make you smile and laugh all over again.
Your life is written second by second, you aren't guaranteed that you will see tomorrow. But you can make sure that your memories outweigh your camera roll.