Making a Mental Scrapbook

Let’s paint a picture: Christmas morning 2011, the last present opened is a camera. Not just any camera, a light blue digital camera. It was the present from my dreams when I was 10.

Keeping pictures for scrapbooks is a tradition in my family. It can seem like it is against the family law if you do not have a camera out while at a family event. Since we are very close but do not always have a lot of time to get together, these pictures become a treasure. Having a camera meant I could capture my own memories. I took pictures everywhere I went and was capture these moments for eternity.

However, when I’m with my friends I find myself trying to document all the memories we’re making rather than just enjoying the moment. There are quite a few funny videos in my camera roll, and good times that pop up on my Snapchat memories, but so many of them pop up and I have forgotten the details from those days.

I realize that I would recall these times more thoroughly if I had been invested in the moment rather than trying to capture it on camera. “Living in the moment is being aware of the moment we are in. If our minds are in the past or the future, we are not truly invested in the present” – Satsuki Shibuya. Instead of focusing on taking pictures to save physically, take a mental snapshot and continue to live in the moment. Save these memories in your own photo album to think back on. Having memories with people is much more valuable than having things to see.

Kansas FFA, I challenge you to start living more in the moment. Focus on the time you have with the people around you, and build up your own mental scrapbook.

Hannah Graybill