Recently, I worked on a campaign that featured some amazing Minnesota octogenarians who were thriving in their senior years. The campaign celebrates 80-something-year old Minnesotans who have amazing stories to share. So, for the bulk of August and September I spent time talking to these folks and listened to them share their stories and reflect on their lives. And I started reflecting on my own life, especially the last year — and realized, I don’t remember a fair amount of it. I won’t lie, this had me a little FREAKED. I should remember how I spent the last 10 months because it was filled with a ton of celebration, a lot of fun and a little crazy. In 60 years, if and when I’m an 80-something-year old, I want to be able to reflect on my life and remember it.

As a part of the aforementioned campaign, I traveled around Minnesota shooting content and taking notes about what these cool 80-year old cats were up to. My favorite shoot was one that had me drive three hours north to Grand Rapids. Everything about it was quintessentially Northwoods. It was calm and quiet. The plentiful (and giant) trees swathed me in this feeling of greatness that I hadn’t felt in some time. It reminded me how important it is to just slow down and get away from the hustle and bustle.

I’ve resolved not only to remember the remaining two months of 2018, but to remembering the next 60 years. I’m committed. But I know me, and I can’t just say I’ll do things and remember to do them. I need a plan. While on these photoshoots, I was reacquainted me with the fact that, hey I actually studied English and writing in college and don’t mind it. Being the visual person I am, I already know that I have to write to-do lists, both so I remember to do things and so they are engrained in my memory. So why hadn’t it occurred to me to write down things that I did, things that I saw, places I went? So, my plan? To slow down and to write it down. I figure if the art of writing a to-do list can help me remember to do things, it should also help remember what I did. And it will require me to take a second and think.

We’ll see how it goes. I remain naively optimistic about it.