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EP 63 - Millions Of Forgotten Things
23 Plays5 months ago
Thoughts about details, and what we’re ultimately known for.
For more info & to download a free PDF of today's episode notes, visit: www.chriskreuter.com/CDWI
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Transcript
Introduction to 'Chris deals with it'
00:00:08
Speaker
On Chris deals with it, I talk about the frameworks and methods I use to clear personal, creative, and professional roadblocks. My goal is to help others bridge the gap between where they're at now and what they want to achieve.
Chris's Diverse Background
00:00:20
Speaker
If you're new to the show, I'm an engineer, writer, parent, game designer, leader, and reader who leverages that experience to develop creative solutions to problems. An AI statement that all elements of this episode are products of the author, Chris Croyder, and made without the use of any AI tools.
Episode 63: 'Millions of forgotten things'
00:00:38
Speaker
Welcome to episode 63 of Chris deals with it. Millions of forgotten things. Few through history are remembered much beyond a few generations. Some live on through physical reminders, as statues captured in paintings or photographs, and in the artifacts they leave behind. Others live on through the product of their minds and industry, writings, musical notations, prose, inventions, businesses. And historical importance can keep some in the minds of civilization long beyond their passing.
What is Remembered in Life
00:01:07
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Yet, for those remembered, how many actions of their lives are actually remembered? I mean, in the end, what are we ultimately known for? For most who live, life provides millions of moments. Actions, conversations, day-to-day impacts on the world and our fellow humans. Large or small, most are forgotten to history.
00:01:26
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I know at times I have a tendency to place too much importance on some of those actions.
The Nature of Memories
00:01:31
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I'll fret over how I appeared or how I said something, what I spent my time on, or the imperfections of my work. But ultimately what remains in memory is really just a quick snapshot of that reality. And everyone snaps that image through a different lens and from different angles.
00:01:47
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All are bringing the sum total of their reality and history to that moment. So therefore, everyone's going to take away a different memory from that moment. And all of those memories are going to fade at different rates and inconsistently.
Vivid Emotional Moments
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Time is a powerful filter.
00:02:04
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There are moments that transcend these filters. Core memories that are lush with detail, full of emotion and power. Moments that can be replayed in our minds like scenes from a movie. This could be the birth of a child, a wedding, a deeply embarrassing moment, a breakup, a big performance, a tragic incident.
Patterns and Intentionality in Memory
00:02:21
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But we should be aware of the role we're playing in other people's memories too. And that others involved in those memories are going to have different perspectives of them. No two memories can ever be the same.
00:02:32
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But setting aside these core moments, I believe what matters, what ultimately gets remembered about us, are going to be the patterns of our actions, the intentionality behind what we do, producing things of substance and quality, our reliability and availability for others, providing spaces and opportunities for deeper connection, the people we interact with and are influenced by.
00:02:55
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Consider a book that's read or a movie watched. We may remember elements of the plot, characters, perhaps a quote or two, but above all, our recollection of that book or movie ends up as a brief summary. It was great. It sucked. Perhaps a rating on some subjective scale out of five stars, for example. How it made us feel. Some elements that really stood out.
00:03:17
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or phrases or imagery that become ingrained in pop culture or transcend genre to influence civilization more broadly, such as going down the rabbit hole from Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, just as one example.
The Importance of Details
00:03:30
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Few of us, if anyone, are capable of remembering every sentence of processing every moment of a work fully and integrating all of those into their personal history and worldview.
00:03:41
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But all these millions of details, despite the reality of their fading, they do matter. They can relate to the quality of the experience, such as the choices of color palette and brush strokes on a painting. They can provide context, add depth, and form a base to later deliver a key message and or a moment, such as all the details that would go into planning a conference, a birthday party, or a family vacation.
00:04:06
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Those details can ensure physical and or psychological safety, such as ensuring that every rider is locked in securely before starting the 100th amusement park ride of the night. And a detail may resonate only with someone trained for or specially attuned to specific details, such as the appreciation of a note variation listened to by someone with a trained ear and or deep knowledge of that particular work. All these millions of details have the potential to become poignant, transcendent memories. Which ones? What's out of our control, since it depends on the individual making each memory. It depends on their state of being at the moment of interacting with that detail in that moment.
00:04:46
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Their attunement, training, past experiences, education, social standing, how much they're paying attention, et cetera.
Digital Footprints and Humanity
00:04:53
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But in this digital age, we're facing a new reality. Many of our actions don't fade so easily through time. The breadcrumbs of our digital age are littering civilization's tablecloth. Posts, notes, and files become digital memories of things consumed, actions taken, feeds posted to, et cetera, creating data-driven accounts of a life lived.
00:05:15
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These digital footprints can be viewed as objective truths. They allow us to swim in details, even obsess over them. These moments are often curated and can be misrepresented out of context very easily. Quality and or quantity can become performative rather than honest reflections of our lives.
00:05:35
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Concepts have evolved like virtue signaling, culture wars, echo chambers, virality. But what happens to our humanity when all this data overwhelms our ability to make and maintain our own takeaways? Many of us have literal lenses in our pocket we whip out to capture moments digitally.
Capturing vs Experiencing Moments
00:05:53
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But can that video of your favorite bands playing at a concert you attend recreate the way the music, the crowd, the real-life moment vibrated you physically and emotionally?
00:06:03
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And we can choose to live in moments more and worry about capturing and sharing them less and leave millions of those tiny details to the sands of time. I love this quote from Brett and Kate McKay. This is from one of their Sunday fireside articles on their Art of Manliness blog. It's titled, Be Prepared to Live Off Your Fat. And the format of these fireside articles has really inspired the format of a lot of the Chris deals with the episodes like this one. So here's the quote.
00:06:30
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Every enjoyable outing taken, every laughter-filled conversation engaged in, every book read, every mental model of how to live and what to live for absorbed, stores a life-giving deposit in the spirit. No crumb of life's goodness is ever lost to us. Each adds to the reservoir of rich, nourishing fat that will gladden the heart in the good times and sustain it during the lean. And with that, have a great day.
Supporting the Show
00:07:04
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If you feel that Chris dealt with it, I'd appreciate your support of the show by sharing it with someone who might benefit. Ratings on your favorite podcast player are also helpful in growing the audience. Visit chriscroiter dot.com for free downloadable PDFs with notes and resources from today's episode. Sign up for the CDWY mailing list or to send in your problems or requests for future shows. That's C-H-R-I-S-K-R-E-U-T-E-R dot.com or use the link in the show notes.