Living a Life of Cherished Memories
Growing up, I have always made it clear to myself to make and cherish memories with the people I love. It is important to keep these beliefs in mind because you never really realize how many things you take for granted until these things are taken away from you.
Sure, everyone’s memories and beliefs are different, but I do believe that memories create a sense of complacency and comfort. Without these memories, I would cease to be who I am and cherish what I have and had.
They influence our actions, things we love, and we would be nothing more than a shell of a human being without our memories. Memories, to me, influence everything about an individual.
If there’s one thing for certain — memories, good or bad, are what we are.
6 Years Ago:
The past can’t changed, but it is important that we cherish our memories. I am grateful for all of my memories because they developed me as a person and helped influence me to become who I am today. I’m grateful that my father, who was my hero, had impacted my life enough before he passed. Even though he is gone now, it would not be without his impression that I am grateful to cherish my memories. My father was born in Cambodia in Asia and I was told that I got my personality from my father. We were both trying to make people laugh and always were willing to help anyone, especially friends, at any given time.
The day my father passed, left a mark in my mind and will always stay with me to this day and in the future, as well. It was a fishing trip that went wrong and he ended up leaving me, my mom, and my two other siblings on September 15, 2013. I didn’t get to go, but I remember news being revealed to me and me being only 12, it was like a jolt of electricity shot up my spine. My eyes immediately swelled and I was not able to think about anything. I was so focused on the loss of my father that I had passed out that night.
I cried so much when I realized that I never would see my father again, but I knew that he would always be living with me in my memories. I can still picture him taking me to places whenever I was younger and playing soccer with me. When I think about these memories, it gives me a bittersweet feeling: I know he’ll always live on in my memories, but I will not be able to see him.
5 Years Ago:
I remember not having to be stressed or worry about much at all. I remember spending my time and days at my friends house and building ridiculous things like flamethrowers to landmines to potato guns. Thinking back, it wasn’t exactly the safest thing especially without adult supervision, but we still had a blast. The memories that I created with my friends were times that I have enjoyed the most. Not having to care about anything whether it’d be school or jobs because we were just kids. I enjoyed hanging out with my friends and felt like it would never change.
There was a time where all of our friends spent the night at one friend’s house and we did so many things together to pass time. During the day time we would go outside, play basketball, explore the woods and during the night time we would go inside, play games on our computers, or just talk with each other.
I remember that we would always go and play paintball on my birthday every year and I remember the hilarious screaming that Mike, one of my friends, would make.
2 Years ago:
“I can’t hang out, I have work today.”
This would be what, at least, one of us would say, whenever we all tried to make any plans together. There was no more paintball, no more sleepovers, no more exploration, and no more time for each other. Everyone was starting to get busy with life-related things — we all started to grow up.
I was starting to realize that we all began to drift from one another and we had never realized when our time hanging out with each other would actually end. It was such an abrupt realization that we all had taken our time together for granted. Everyone was starting to think about their life in the future and how all of us are going our separate ways, going to different colleges, and pursuing different dreams.
Of course, I understood and realized eventually that not everyone remains friends forever. People come and go into everyone’s life and when I was young I just did not imagine that my friend group would drift away from each other. We went from hanging out with each other every day to only hanging out with each other on rare occasions.
I began to wonder why our friendships began to change. I thought: did I do anything wrong? I’m not the only person that does not friends to leave their lives. Not every friendship will stay together — I knew this — and most friendship will end for many reasons because as people grow up and change, their beliefs and values change as well. Not all the time will people have the same thoughts as yourself and not having the same things in common provides no familiar feelings between one another.
Everyone, including myself, needs to realize that it’s hard for most people to lose any friendship and let go of these relationships, especially the ones that you have had since your childhood. That’s why I believe that it is important to know that friends come and go for a reason, and they change and add elements to your life. These memories of your friends who you aren’t friends with anymore should not be forgotten, but rather cherished and appreciated because they were in your life, like my friends, and taught you many life lessons and taught us to be ourselves.
My Life Now:
I am always stressed and always busy. The time that I would have with friends is gone now and I am always focused on schools with no time to hang out and cherish my friends and family.
There’s hardly any time to do anything and I tend to keep to myself now.
I only focus on my school work and stay in my dorm on weekdays and weekends. Most of my time has been taken by school work and I just think back on my days at home and hanging out with my friends.
Whenever I do have time to hang out with anyone, they note that they have not seen me in a long time and ask the same questions like what have I been up to and how is life treating me. I answer the same way every time and say that I have been fine and just focused on school and I rarely do anything anymore. I began to disregard social relationships and stop hanging out with friends.
I try the best I can to not be antisocial and I try to relax with friends any chance I get, but these chances do not really come often. I only see the time to hang out with friends as something unnecessary, which I am trying to change because it’s a unhealthy mentality.
Throughout my lifetime, my thoughts and mentality changes and my values doesn’t align with my old friends. Though it is through memories that I can engrave these beautiful times with my friends, and even bad memories will leave their mark in my mind. Remembering these times and previous experiences has honestly made my life enjoyable and made me who I am today.
Memories are amazing things and it’s how we interact with our past. Memories can be beautiful and recollect on the good times, but they can also be painful; despite all of this, they help us, develop us, and help us grow. When we are born, we have no memories and if we ever try to erase our memories as children, adults, or elders, we would only revert back to the time we were born.
