Clinging to The Memories

I don’t want to forget my life

Kimberly Fosu
Human Parts
Published in
3 min readMay 1, 2023

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(Photo: Michal Jarmoluk)

Last night as I lay in bed reminiscing about my life, unable to will myself to sleep, the term ‘memory hoarding’ kept ringing in my ears. I knew I hadn’t heard it from anywhere so I thought I was the first person to come up with it, but after doing some research, it turns out it’s an actual thing that has already been talked about.

Memory hoarding is an obsessive-compulsive disorder, but that isn’t the case for me. I collect memories the same way squirrels collect nuts so they have food to eat in the winter. I collect memories so I have something to look back on. I cling to memories because I don’t want to forget important details of my life.

There’s something refreshing about going on Snapchat and seeing “Flashback from 4 years ago today” and remembering exactly what my day looked like. I enjoy picking up my journal from previous years and reliving special moments.

When I go a week without writing anything in my journal, I feel a panic that tells me I will not remember those days, five years from now and the memory will be lost forever.

I cling to memories because I don’t want to forget important details of my life.

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