sunday: july 05th

this is going to be trying to pitch an idea to you, in a way.

i'll start with myself:
i'm a data hoarder. i have backups of backups of an insane amount of data, from conversations with friends to important dates on my calendars and other interesting things i note down about a person. this didn't start out as an intentional affair, but just instinctively happened. almost as if a younger version of me saw how much i would value it today. in the spirit of being completely honest, i value these mountains of information and continue to add to it for two reasons, one personal and one general. i forget entire parts of my life, and entire experiences, very rarely people, but definitely the nature of relationship that existed between us, so this hoarding of data has proven to be an incredibly bitter sweet experience. i read diary entires i never remember writing about feelings i never remember having. 

more importantly, the more broader reason: 
some of you simply will not see the significance of the experiences you're having right now as a young being experiencing life in it's full force, in a few years you could be living in a different place, hanging out with different people, living with someone else and a huge list of other changes in your life. over-time you lose touch with the old way of your life, and believe me when I say there's no feeling better than the one that's induced by looking at these pictures, at the conversations, at your own diary entries. 

it's not just the spark of memories that floods into your head, that is obviously a bitter-sweet experience. but the very realisation that everything around you can change in a matter of a hours, days, or months is a humongous realisation. 

depending on whichever month of 2020 you read this in, you are probably in some kind of a lockdown or quarantine, do you remember living life, at the beginning of the year? you probably even welcomed this year with a bang. how far is that experience now? how remote is the possibility of booking flight tickets whenever you wanted? how remote is the possibility of moving around the city with your only fear being your insanely horrible road rage that you should probably keep in check. 

this is truly the closest i can get to an example of what i'm trying to convey, but on a much larger scale. there is unfathomable change in our lives, and we are used to the blurry ends and beginnings, write down your feelings. take photographs, print them out. i even go to the extent of sending letters to my own future self (yup! that's possible). 

do all of this for a later version of you that will be thankful you did this now, we might look at these as insignificant actions or a time-pass now, but they hold so much value, it's beautiful. because honestly, believe me or not fifteen years from now, you'll be reading a wikiHow article on how to put on diapers on your kid. 

serve your future self and your present self.