Time Bombs & Tapestries

Hello my friend,

You’re holding a ticking time bomb and you probably don’t realize it.

I don’t say this to scare you, just to get your attention about something really important that I’ve been noticing over the last decade, and it’s driving me to help us midlife women first see it, and then do something about it.

Let’s back up.

I know you think of me as a long-time portrait photographer, but did you know that I also have a background in museum curation, education, anthropology and archaeology?

My first job managing collections was at an archaeology lab. There were many tens of thousands of artifacts in a room and they all needed to be cataloged into a database. They were loosely organized but for the most part, the collection was useless because there was no way to identify and locate say, pottery styles of the coastal tribes, if someone wanted to study them.

Then came along the Native American Repatriation Act, which mandated that any federal facilities housing any type of Native American remains needed to repatriate them to the tribes. The only way to do that was to go piece by piece, get everything cataloged and pull those items aside and document them before repatriation.

Why am I telling you this? Because your collection of photos and videos is just like this.

It isn’t your fault.

We are the first generation to deal with a massive collection of photos and videos and like it or not, we are the keepers of the family history. We not only have the boxes of photos in the closet that were handed down to us, we have the physical photos and videos from our pre-digital life plus the hordes of them on various devices and clouds. And each year, we add hundreds more to the pile. In fact, if you were to print out all of your digital photos (remember the photo kiosks?), they would likely fill the room you’re sitting in right now to the ceiling.

Even if you’re guarding against data loss and managing your files properly, your kids will NEVER go through it all. Which means much of it will be lost.

So what are we to do?

First, you get connected to who, and what, is most important to you. This is critical to go beyond the superficial and really get into alignment so you get the maximum value out of not just your portraits and legacy projects, but your time and energy, your quality of life and the impact you create. I have a framework that I use to help you do that through my Touchstone Portrait sessions, Legacy Projects, and upcoming women’s legacy retreats.

Then, you stay connected to what’s most important, through visual evidence in your environment that act like daily affirmations to cut through the busy schedules and obligations. There is brain science afoot here, and it isn’t woo. (Hint: without doing step one, you may actually be unintentionally sabotaging yourself here.)

Third, you use that as a filter to curate your life, your photos, your stories with intention. You then use this alignment to make the most of your experiences, life, and photos (you’re investing a lot and can’t get that time back, so maximize the value).

Finally, you preserve that in something tangible that you can use to connect with your kids and grandkids, showing them the photos and videos, telling the stories, infusing them with their history.

This is being a good steward of what is essentially a museum collection that you’ve been entrusted with and that you’ve added your life to. Because this legacy and your family history doesn’t just belong to you. It’s theirs too.

And now that the kids are grown (or almost grown), it’s the prime time to pause and reflect, get our house in order, and get into alignment for our next amazing chapter of our lives.

Legacy is like a tapestry. When all of the threads come together with intention, it creates a gorgeous work of art, tells a story, and lasts centuries. When it’s haphazard, it ends up a big ball of tangled thread that nobody can unravel. If it actually does get woven, it’s random and it falls apart because it isn’t valued. Either way it ends up in the trash.

And I KNOW you care. You’re taking thousands of photos and keeping those old family photos in the closet because… why? It’s because you’re trying to hold onto something that you value on some level. But because we’re now so overwhelmed by information, media and to-do items, we just allow it to sink into the digital abyss so we can feel a false sense of security that it will all be there when we “get to it later.”

Tick tock my friend. Tick tock.

P.S. And if you’re saying, “Great Tracy, now how the hell am I supposed to do that? I don’t know where to start!” Don’t worry. I got you.