Intentional Documentation #2

Hello and Happy Monday! 👋🏼

In my last email, I brought up the question of whether it’s better to document experiences or simply live them.

I don’t believe there is a universal answer to this question, but documenting my adventures and travels throughout life has given me more meaning and purpose. I find it makes me more present and appreciative of the little things.

This past week, I got sick again. I’m not sure what’s going on with my body (get it together), but it gave me a lot of downtime to explore this topic further.

And once I got better, I hiked to 4000 meters of altitude on the peak of a dormant volcano to watch an active volcano erupt in the distance.

Okay, back to the question at hand: How do I want to intentionally document my life?

I decided to take a course from the guy who I stole this term from. Nathaniel Drew (who I’ve mentioned before) makes a lot of content that I resonate with. He has a course called Document Your Life: 4 Methods to Live More Intentionally that’s available on Skillshare.

While he’s a bit younger than me, he’s been regularly documenting his life on (and off of) YouTube since he was 17 years old. That’s over 8 years and counting of material. He has an abundance of memories in video form to look back on whenever he desires. I think that’s beautiful.

I got a lot of value from hearing his thoughts on this topic. He goes through documenting your life via vlogging, journaling, film photography, and voice memos. Funnily enough, I’ve had periods of my life where I’ve employed each of these.

Here’s a summary of what I took away from Nathaniel’s course that I think you may find thought-provoking.

The 7 Principles for Successfully Documenting Over the Long Term

Keep it simple.
Date everything.
Be as clear as possible. Include a crazy amount of details so future you can relive the moment and remember what happened. Your memory is not perfect and you will forget.
Make sure you enjoy doing it (it being whatever method you choose to document your life).
Make it accessible. This makes it easy to always have the tools you need with you (like a small and light camera) without them being a burden.
Remember there is no right way to do any of this. Experiment, mix mediums, “fail”, and try again.
Think of the long-term benefits. You will get better over time, have memories to look back on, and make connections from sharing.

Method 1: Ultrasimple Vlogging

This is my favorite method, probably because I am constantly going into phases of making videos, stopping for a while, then starting back up.

This is quite possibly the best way to document your thoughts and feelings, as well as get a POV of your surroundings. Future you will be able to relive these experiences so vividly in the future if you put together little clips of specific times from your life.

Nathaniel recommends taking a weekend, week, or month to film whatever captures your attention and makes you curious. Pick a song that reminds you of these moments and choose it as the background for a 5-minute video. Record a voiceover with your thoughts about that time, and make a quick little montage. Bonus points if you share it.

I’ll be making a video like this from my hike up Acatenango Volcano and posting it on my YouTube channel. It’s been too long since my last video and I miss having these to look back on. Hopefully, I’ll have it ready to share for next week’s email. 🤞🏼

Method 2: Journaling Reimagined

Take some physical (not digital) journals and theme them. Nathaniel has three journals he is actively writing in at any time… one on mental clarity (dreams, spiritual stuff), a bullet journal (habits, sleep, weekly updates), and one for language learning.

I use two journals. One is for whatever I need to get out of my head (I journal almost every day) and isn't legible because I write so fast. The other is a Dream Journal, where I elaborate on different goals, adventures, and experiences that I want to accomplish or have.

Method 3: Film Photography

Scarcity makes this a great option for intentionally documenting your life. Most rolls of 35mm film have about 36 shots on them. Combine this with the fact that it costs money to purchase the film and have it developed, and you will be wisely choosing the frames you want to remember forever.

On one of my earlier trips to Thailand, I brought along a Canon AE-1 loaded with expired film. Between that and the intense humidity, I got 5 shots from the entire 4-week trip. Everything else was ruined. One of the photos is a competitor for my favorite shot of all time… a man steering a unique type of boat called a long-tail boat with his foot in Krabi, Thailand. It's not a great photo by any means... even the horizon is slanted, but I will always remember this moment. The "defects" in color make it even more special to me.

Method 4: Be a Reporter of Your Own Life

This is the method that I have the least experience with. Sometimes I record voice notes on my phone with my thoughts about certain things or peaceful nature noises when I’m hiking. I’ve never used them to create anything, though.

If this method sounds interesting, Nathaniel recommends using a free app called Audacity to edit your files.

Alright, that’s all for now. Have a wonderful week and I’ll talk to you soon.

Thanks for reading,
Alex 🙃

[sent from a coffee shop in Antigua, Guatemala]