Living in the Moment, Without the Camera

Hello friends! It's been a crazy past month and a half, but I'm finally back! Between finals, moving out of college, traveling, and sickness, it's been crazy. I'm sure you've been busy yourself.

Recently, this past week in fact, I went on a cruise with my family to the western Caribbean. We made stops in Jamaica, Grand Cayman, and Cozumel and had some pretty awesome adventures. It was a wonderful week, and I ate way too much, but I was disappointed about one thing. I didn't get as many pictures as I wanted. And the pictures I did get weren't exactly as Instagrammable as I had imagined.

Writing it out makes me seem silly and materialistic. But I was actually disappointed in the pictures I took on the trip. Not that it was necessarily my fault. The weather was pretty wet and nasty, and a lot of the activities we did were in the water, so I couldn't very well take my Canon Rebel T5i snorkeling with me. But I was still kinda bummed I didn't get photos that reflected the amazing time I had.

As I was thinking about this, it made me realize just how much I was letting social media consume my thoughts and control my feelings. Just because my pictures weren't perfect did not mean I didn't have an amazing time. I actually had a blast! We went snorkleing and 4-wheeling and climbed a literal waterfall and went zip lining. I felt like I was an explorer or a pirate in the jungle. I actually was having so much fun that I couldn't take pictures.

Oftentimes, we let our need to be seen doing fun things consume our thoughts. We need to get that cool picture to prove we were there and having fun. It's not all our fault; social media has been conditioning us to do it. But we oftentimes let our need to show off our fun actually inhibit us from having fun.

Here is my challenge to you: live in the moment. Keep some of your memories offline. Put the camera down for a moment, and just live in the present. Instead of looking at a screen or looking through a lens, look at the world with your own two eyes. Don't let the camera get in the way of experiencing all life has to offer. Interact with the people around you, touch the world around you instead of merely observing it. Life is short. Experience instead of recording.