Why Do I Care About a Picture?

I think that for some reason pictures mean a lot to me and it is hard for me to pin point one reason why. I think that growing up my mom was always really good about making me take pictures and she cares about this a lot which made me care about them a lot. I think she cares about them so much because she has a terrible long term memory and can't remember certain events or moments unless there is a picture documenting it. Although I think I have a better memory than her naturally, with age it will fade as well and I will be thankful that I have photographs documenting my life.

However, I do find that once I have the perfect iconic picture I stress out what to do with it afterwards. Facebook and Instagram both stress me out, but I have grown used to Instagram overtime because it really became popular with my generation. I think that Facebook is more old school where you post a handful of pictures from a year of your life and put them into an album, which I have not done since Senior year of high school. I just gave up because it stressed me out way too much to keep up with. Instagram is more like capturing a snapshot of an event in your life and is more instant. I think that the instant element of Instagram stresses me out the most because I am not good at posting on the spot, I like to look at all the pictures, pick my favorite ones, edit them and think of a good caption, which takes me a lot of time. I think that my ADD and anxiety contribute to this, I tend to hyper focus on the Instagram post that it stresses me out to create my post. But with age and maturity I have learned to embrace my tendency to post late on Instagram and now my friends just consider this "On brand" for me. It it so my personality to post late, but at least now I just own it.

Overtime, I have come to realize that even if I do not get the perfect picture to document the event it doesn't mean the event wasn't perfect. I think that stressing out over a picture can make you enjoy the event less because you are thinking about it and I have come to realize how little I take the time to look at old photographs that meant so much to me when I took them at the time. Ultimately, I am happy I have this part of me because I think that in the long run I will enjoy being able to show my family one day what my friends looked like and what my experiences were like throughout my life. Sometimes a picture speaks louder than words and I have grown to appreciate this part of myself. Additionally, one day my friends will be thankful that they have these group pictures that I have encouraged them to get as well because they are ones we will cherish forever and look back on fondly.