Don’t let your family memories stay unseen—your stories untold! Free them from your phone or computer and give them a second life! Thank you to Animoto for sponsoring this conversation.
Wearing only a diaper and a Pebbles-style ponytail, she squealed at each new image that came across our screen.
It was the first time I ever used the slideshow feature on our TV, and our sweet toddler could not get enough.
Family memories passed by—a camping trip, a waterfall hike, that time she smashed avocado all over her face and hair. My husband and I sunk deeper into the couch and watched her gleeful reaction to each photo.
It was all the proof I’ve ever needed of the power of not just preserving our memories but accessing them—again and again.
Why Let Your Family Memories Stay Unseen?
Our photos and videos shouldn’t just exist on our phones and hard drives. They should be shared, enjoyed and relived a dozen times with the ones we love.
Research has shown that the brain releases the same amount of dopamine (the feel-good neurotransmitter) when we remember an experience as it did the first time we lived it.
Isn’t that powerful?
It’s why you feel—even for just a few moments—the tranquility of your beachside anniversary trip when you think back on it months later.
It’s why you feel light and carefree again when you remember the times your grandparents took you out for ice cream as a child.
It’s why you feel such intense love and protectiveness (and maybe some fear and overwhelm) when you reflect on the first time you held your baby in your arms.
Those feelings are ours to access over and over if we purposefully make space for them.
Our children also gain a deep sense of family identity from the experiences we share together. But experiencing something once—from the magic of that Disney trip to that time you went cliff jumping—and then never talking about it again? That’s like letting a big opportunity pass you by.
Stories Are Meant to Be Shared
Stories are meant to be shared, after all. These moments were important enough for you to record them; it’s time to take the next step—free them from your phone or hard drive and share the stories that are waiting to be told!
When I have time, I love to compile our pictures into photo books {Top 5 Places to Print Photo Books}, because it’s so satisfying to smell the fresh paper when it first arrives and feel the weight of a book in your hands. I often find a photo book at the foot of my son’s bed. It makes my heart burst, knowing he sneaks them up to his room to look at before he drifts off to sleep.
But books take time to compile, and I like to use more than one medium to really help our memories take on a second life.
One of my favorite ways to ensure that our precious moments live on is with simple, easy-to-create slideshows. I love making a slideshow for each of my kids to play on their birthday. And slideshows are fantastic for capturing the essence of a short period of time, like your summer adventures or a particular family vacation.
The difference with a slideshow, compared to a photo book, is that slideshows can include video footage. Video clips let us hear the sounds of our lives; they capture facial expressions and body movements and mannerisms that I know I’d otherwise forget. And I want to remember these things.
Giving Your Family Memories as Second Life
This summer was a special one for our family, our first full summer living in a new State—a summer that brought us some challenges but also some incredible moments that deserve to be celebrated.
I made this sweet video using Animoto, whose mission is to help people like you and me make great videos easily.
This video was a breeze to put together. The only part that took me some time was selecting the photos! Assembling them into the slideshow only took a few minutes.
The next time you want to create a video or slideshow, I hope you’ll turn to Animoto. The ease of use plus the payoff of being able to relive your family memories over and over? It’s a no brainer.
Use coupon code memories17 for 20% off your Animoto subscription
The Power of a Moment
I love the Dr. Suess line—
“Sometimes you never will never know the value of a moment until it becomes a memory.”
Let’s ensure that our moments—and our memories—make the biggest impact possible on ourselves and our families.
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