Dream of Future Memories

I began my Revive55 Project to preserve my past memories, to remember the stories, to recognize what was meaningful and to declutter what wasn't.

I considered "taking care of the past" as a project. After the project, I planned to focus on present and future memories which would be a process.

Catching up is a project. 

Keeping up is a process.

With the new year however, I feel that it's a good time to look forward. What do I want my days, months and years to be like?

The New Year is a popular time for resolutions so why not add memories-themed ones to the list?

Dream of Future Memories

There are three aspects to memories. We want to preserve our past memories, we want to enjoy our present moments and we want to dream of our future experiences.

With the start of a new year and a new decade, it's a good time to dream of the future and start making plans to act on those dreams. By writing down our hopes and dreams, we can create more memorable moments.

Choose one or more of the following challenges:

55 Second Challenge

1. Make a Future Memories list. What experiences do you hope to have in the future?
2.  Keep it handy and add to it whenever you think: 
• "I wish I ..." 
• "I hope to ... " 
• "Some day I want to ..."
• "I love it when..." 
• "I loved it when..."
3. Write your ideas in a journal or enter it in an app or document.
4. Bonus: Review it on a regular basis and take steps to make things happen.

55 Minute Challenge

1. Start a Day Zero Project: 
• Write a list of 101 Things you want to do in 1001 Days
• or 52 things for 52 weeks or 12 things for 12 months
2. Follow the Day Zero Project website as is or create it "your way" like I did it "my way".
3. Write your ideas in a journal or planner or enter it in an app or document.
4. Bonus: Review it on a regular basis and take steps to make things happen

Day Zero...My Way

When I first started the Day Zero Project, I made a "safe" list of 101 things I thought I could accomplish. By the time I finished my list, I wasn't too excited. I saw things that I would do because they were on a list. What if I didn't want to do them anymore on day 900? Would I force myself to do something just because it was on a list? How would I feel if I failed to complete the 101?

That's when I decided to change the rules and do the project "my way".

I started the project with two lists. The first list is numbered from 1 to 101 and is blank. The other list is all kinds of things I would love to do whether they were realistic or not. It consisted of hundreds of things: places I dreamed of visiting, events I wanted to attend, people I wanted to meet, bands I wanted to see, activities I wanted to do, etc.

As I did something on the list, I added it to the numbered list. I continued until I got to 101. If something was on a list that I didn't want to do anymore, I removed it. If something came up that wasn't on the list but it would have been easy to not do or I couldn't even have dreamed of, I still added it to the numbered list.

Read the full blog post on how I made the project my way ten years ago by clicking this link: https://dayzeromyway.blogspot.com/2010/03/day-zero-projectmy-way.html

5.5 Hours Challenge

1. Create a Vision Board or Revive55 "Time Travel Board".
2. Find images or sayings of moments you have loved in the past...moments that you are amazed have happened.
3. Find images or sayings to represent future moments that will be worth remembering.
4. Paste them on a poster board.

When I have attended a vision board workshop, the instructions were to go through magazines and cut out anything that "speaks to you", that you love or that inspires you. I like to keep my vision board more specific. I search out what I want to include and cut out or screen capture things as I come across them.

Choose a size you're comfortable with. If you want to keep it simple and focused, choose a smaller one. I have done smaller ones before and decided to expand to a larger one. I chose a fold-out poster board. I have different themes on each surface.

I used removable tape on it so that as things changed, I could edit it which I have done a few times.

Researching more about vision boards to broaden the tips I could give, I am seeing many ways that I could improve mine. To start with, I read the following in a post about making vision boards more powerful:  "Keep it neat. Avoid creating a cluttered or chaotic board - you don’t want to attract chaos into your life."

Well, you really can't say that my vision board is neat.

I still love this one so may "retire" it rather than edit it any more.

For 2020 I will start a new one. I will write a separate post with tips and ideas in more detail.

Time Travel Board

I am calling the Revive55 Memories-themed board a Time Travel Board. Travel back in time to special memories and look forward to creating more memories.

I have been thinking about this since I started the Revive55 Project. The first part of the Memories Board includes experiences you dream of and would create memorable moments. The second part of the Memories Board includes past experiences that are meaningful and proof that amazing things can happen. If you ever doubt that things won't happen, you just have to look at your past memories to believe that lots can happen to make your dreams happen.