Reviving Memories

At the beginning of the year, I made a 20 for 2019 list. This is a goal-setting challenge with 20 things that I want to accomplish in 2019.

Twenty is my favourite number so I chose 20 instead of 19 for 2019 like they recommended in The Happiness Project Experience (and the Happier With Gretchen Rubin Podcast). I will probably continue with 20 in future years (20/2019; 20/2020; 20/2021, etc).

One of my twenty things was to come up with a project to correspond with my 55th birthday in July.

I love projects. Without projects, I feel that days, weeks and months go by and I don't feel like I accomplish as much as when I set deadlines.

With two months to go before my birthday, I started to focus on that project. I was brainstorming, wondering what it could be. As part of the decluttering that I have been doing, I realized that I would have to eventually go through boxes and boxes of mementos.

Combining all these memories as the theme for my 55th project seemed perfect. It would involve all types of memories: photos, videos, concert tickets, programs, newspapers, magazines, souvenirs, etc.

With a theme in mind, I now wanted a name for my new project.

I was looking at words that rhyme with fifty-five and initially thought I had found it when my husband stopped me at the word "archive" when I was listing different words.

Archive seemed like a good fit as a word meaning to preserve things. The more I thought about it and planned the project, I realized that what I really wanted was to unarchive. I wanted to take mementos and photos out of storage, boxes, computers and hard drives. I wanted to enjoy the memories.

I considered calling it unarchive55 but found that it sounded negative. I stayed with Archive55 for a couple of weeks but finally had to recognize that I was convincing myself that it was perfect but I didn't really feel that it was perfect.

I wondered if I would expand this project once I was finished my personal 55th birthday project. Maybe I shouldn't focus on the number 55 or a word rhyming with it.  I was in the back seat on a long drive home when I spent hours reflecting and imagining my project. I started writing down words that resonated with me while looking for synonyms for mementos, memories and preserve until I got to the word REVIVE. What a moment that was!

Revive was on the original list but I read it more as energize or resuscitate which seemed too vague. I didn't give it much thought, especially when I focused on the word archive.

I was SO excited to find such an energizing word that rhymed with fifty-five AND was related to mementos and memories.

My Revive55 Memories Project is a 55-week project that will begin on July 1st, 2019 and end on my birthday July 20, 2020. I will divide it into 11 segments of 5 weeks because as a sprinter, I need interim deadlines to make things work. The first segment will involve decluttering and organizing the mementos. This will be helpful to choose 10 themes for the ten 5-week segments that will follow.

Along with reviving memories, I feel that Revive55 is also about reviving my life. Two years ago, I closed down my Olympic website. Since then, I have wondered about what would be my next passion. I have had many amazing experiences and adventures in the last few years but I wondered what my purpose was in our empty nest now that our children were at university.

Revive55 has filled that purpose.

I have started a new blog where I will post my progress.

I am working on designing a website which is not live yet. My plan for the website is to document my Revive55 Project and more importantly to help others revive their memories.  My personal Revive55 Project may be 55 weeks long but my vision for Revive55: The Memories Project is much longer.