Keep the right memories…

I spent a lot of time fooling around with this topic and I really couldn’t come up with anything to write. No, it wasn’t that I didn’t have any memories that I cherished, far from it actually. I had them in spades, and each one is worth a mention. I just don’t see what there was to write about the topic in general. I think I might have figured it out.

I normally tend not to blog/tweet about my personal feelings, for many reasons. Mainly because I like my general impression as a loafer. It’s not the best, but I don’t mind it. Also because if I saw someone else go wah-wah on their blogs/tweets I tend to shy away from them and if I did the same I’d be a hypocrite. So I try to keep it to a minimum, if not avoid it altogether. This time though, I will break my rule and speak about why keeping the right memories are more important than just remembering everything, from my own personal, yet limited, knowledge and experience.

Here goes.

Like any other young guy my age I go through the usual melodrama that accompanies this period. Except for acne, I managed to avoid that altogether. Moving on though, lately I would like to think that I’ve got the better of it. And by lately I actually mean VERY lately. I guess it’s that point where the bigger picture finally sinks in. Either way, I’m going to try and share with you all what made me realize this. This might be a moot post since a lot of you might have already realized this, but hey it’s fodder for my brain, and I intend to use it.

Whenever something close to you dies or takes an unexpected turn for the worse what usually follows is this self-consuming feeling of, ‘It was all wrong from the start.’ You then start to blame yourself, the time, the situation, your doorknob, your cat’s pillow, anything you can find just to justify any sudden changes that you may not be comfortable with. Like everyone else, I more or less went through the same phase of self/non-self blame/hate etc.

I snapped out of it/had my little epiphany only moments ago. Soon after I opened up this word document, deleted all prior text and restarted. What happened? This happened.

A few months ago my iPod died. So I got a new one and went about recreating my old playlists. At some point I figured I was done, so I went about my daily life. One day I wanted to listen to a song that I hold quite dear to my heart, for a few vital reasons. Unfortunately it wasn’t in the playlist and so I set about trying to recall the name. I had to ask someone else, who also knew the song, for the name of the artist, because in my old playlist the artist was unknown. My friend sent me the details and I forgot to download it.

Until 10 minutes ago.

When I heard this song again, it reminded me of all the good memories associated with this song. Almost instantly all the negative stigma vanished, like @binmugahid on hearing the words, ‘marriage,’ or, ‘commitment.’ What I took away from that was that, yes things may not work out the way you wanted them to, for reasons that you may never have accounted for. But, the truth is that for most things that are good, the good memories always outnumber the bad. And you know what? Even if that’s not true, I’d still like to believe it. The song reminded me of every moment that I would love to relive and then implanted it in my head.

So now what? Now, I’m not bitter. I’m just glad I was lucky to have the experience in the first place. Not many can experience what I did. Or maybe they can and I’m too naïve to understand it. But you know what? It doesn’t matter anymore because I’m keeping all the good memories to myself. The bad memories can go sit in the corner on the high chair sulking under the, ‘Dunce’ hat.

What’s the moral of the story? Stuff goes wrong all the time in one’s life. But at some point, you have to shed the pounds and keep all the good wholesome freshness inside. That’s what’s gonna matter eventually.

Besides, who’s to say what the future holds?

Ps. I did write this in one sitting. So what if it’s short? Not all of life’s lessons need be long

Hi! My name’s Muhammed Ali J. I’m a Muslim, born in India, brought up in the Middle East in Dubai, UAE, influenced by a lot of Western Pop Culture and almost never silenced. I blog at Mapping the World, Without My GPS. I also tweet at @Malizomg. Catch me there for fun, frolic and inappropriate humour .

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Song: The Starting Line – Hold On