Things vs Experiences

When I was a kid, I used to travel a lot during the holidays. Always a new place and a lot of things to see, even if, being a child, I forgot most of it after a few years.

As I was growing up, as a way to give me independence and in case of emergency, my father would give me some pocket money to be spent wisely during the whole trip. I would save that money til the very end, and use it to buy a souvenir as a way to remember the trip, but most of the time my father would warn me that those things will only “keep dust”.

He was right. Over time, I accumulated more and more of these souvenirs. They held good memories, but they also created clutter in my room, making me realize how I would have better treasured the experiences in the moment, and take away the fond memories without affixing them to a physical item.

Few years later, a friend had fallen into the same souvenir-collecting trap that I had, so I shared my father’s lesson with her and it is amazing how she still remembers this story!

Sometimes, it feels like we want things to remind us of good times, while memories are already in us and just need to be recalled, with a lighter backpack but fuller heart.