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My tendency is to look forwards in time. What’s next? This means I have a resistance to doing things like reviews. My brain’s novelty bias avoids stuff that feels old. But there’s a reason I reviewed 2020 and why I’m doing it again now: it helps me make memories.
This passage from Derek Sivers How to Live really hit me:
“If you can’t remember something, it’s like it never happened.
You could have a long healthy life, but if you can’t remember it, it’s like you had a short life.
To enjoy your past is to live life.“
People often remark where did the time go? Covid times have been filled with sentiments like What is time? Everything has blended together these past 2 years. Doing a review is my way of reasserting agency over my own time.
Doing this annual review was pure joy. As I went through Google Photos month by month, I’m reminded of beautiful moments that made up my year. I shocked by how much I’ve forgotten, including the good stuff.
For the total amount of review time, about 5 hours split across 2 days, I got in return an entire year of memories. If that’s not good return on investment, I don’t know what is.
In the process of reviewing my memories, I’ve renewed my memories.
Here start with my top lessons of 2021, then go into detail with notable events…
