Completing Revive25 in 2025

I love projects, and especially to plan and start projects, but sometimes, (often?) I don't complete them. Last year, I planned to Revive 25 memories with 25 mini projects. I loved the project and it started great, but then I realized that if I was going to complete the project in the way I started, I wouldn't finish the book I was writing. I chose to prioritize my book and I'm thrilled that I completed it in 2025.

In a way, you could say that I revived at least 25 memories in my book, but I still want to look back at my Revive25 in 2025 Project and close it. Throughout the year, the project was on my mind and I was reviving memories—even if I wasn't writing and sharing about them.

This is my catch up and closing post.

At first, when I was reviving memories, the mini-projects weren't as small as they should have been. For example, I have seen Keane in concert eleven times. My Keane concert memories "mini-project" included: 

• finding concert photos in my photo albums and scanning them
• finding negatives and taking them to a photo lab for reprinting
• finding digital photos in my photos app
• collecting the photos in one place (in my concert album)
• finding and adding concert tickets
• printing and adding blog posts
• completing two highlight videos from concert recordings
• writing the blog post of how the memories connected together 
• recording and editing the vlog to share the story

My Olympic memories mini-project consisted of filling 34 pages (half an album) with my Olympic photos, blog posts, and mementos (it could include a bulleted list as well). Each of those were not "mini" projects. In a way, each of those could have been divided into multiple mini-projects. I couldn't keep this type of reviving up while wanting to complete my book. 

I also realized that I didn't need to write a blog post for all my mini-projects. Some were similar to others, so there wasn't much value in sharing. I revived other concert memories and posted them in my music blog and YouTube channel rather than in my memories ones. I revived other recipes and souvenirs. Sharing takes time though, so I stopped sharing while I kept reviving.

What I also realized was that reviving memories doesn't always require anything more than thinking about moments, looking at photos or videos, or telling the stories. If I wanted to remember the moments that mattered, I didn't have to complete a "mini-project." 

I used nudges throughout the year to revive memories. I find this the easiest way. When I'm reminded of something, I revive it. Reviving a little at a time isn't as daunting as thinking that we have to revive everything.

For example, when I went to see the Blue Jays in the 2025 playoffs, I revived memories by getting my  photo albums out and looking at the photos I had taken at games over the years. I took my mementos folder out to look at the different Jays tickets I had. Some were meaningful and others were not. Reviving the memories in my mind was enough. Maybe someday I'll want to collect all my special sports events in one place, but for now, I was just keeping the memories alive and that's the most important thing.

An important nudge that I hope you'll take by reading this is that many of our memories may be in formats that are becoming obsolete. We should prioritize reviving these memories before they are no longer recoverable.

For example, when I scrapbooked, often I cropped my photos. The extra special ones were sometimes cropped into a circle. When I want to digitize these photos now, it’s difficult to do anything with a circular photo. I always thought I had my negatives in case I ever wanted a copy of those photos. Fortunately, I have a photo lab near me where I can still take my negatives to reprint, but will it be there much longer? 

There are many other types of formats that are becoming obsolete or difficult to digitize, like slides, VHS, CDs, DVDs, miniDV, Hi8, etc. Memories held in these formats should be the top priority of photos and videos we revive.

We also want to prioritize memories that matter most and that add value to our lives in the present. I revived Blue Jays memories while enjoying the Blue Jays in the present. I revived art memories, as I visited art galleries. I revived Italian memories while I returned to Italy.

Reviving memories is a process that I will continue to enjoy, one nudge at a time.

I Published My Book!!

I am very excited to share that I have self-published my book, Present Harmony. If you're interested in reading it, it's available on Amazon worldwide—in paperback and kindle ebook (that you can read on a phone, tablet, or computer using the Kindle app).

It's been an interesting journey to self-edit, design the cover, and self-publish. I have learned a lot but it would be interesting to time travel back and see what the process and result would have been like if I had chosen to hire professionals. 

You may remember that I first wrote my book 18 months ago. It was my first draft and the copy really meant for me, with lots of details and photos. It's the book I hoped to read in the next few decades to remind me of all the detailed stories that I wanted to remember.

For what I call "the peoples' version," I streamlined the stories to focus on the lessons or messages that would be more meaningful for others. This book describes my journey and what I learned during the twenty years I spent researching, teaching, and writing about memories, chasing dreams, and the importance of the present moment. 

I hope the book inspires you to connect your memories with your dreams. I'd love to hear from you if something in the book resonates with you.

Thank you for reading. I really appreciate it.