Why I'm Starting to Document My 20s

“Do you remember the day we…-”

Nope. I don't.

Meeting up with friends always ends up with deep talks about the good ol' days.

Sitting there, wallowing in memories of simpler times.

Less stress.

More life -

“Remember when Fortnite came out & we played 24/7?”

“Or when we were driving without our driver's license?”

Every time we talk about those things, I recognize how much time passed and how much we have all changed.

And these memories feel like they're slowly drifting away.

By talking about them, we keep them alive.

There are only a few pictures or videos that exist. 

That's it.

I'd love to hear what I thought back then, seeing where all the changes happened.

But I was too insecure.

Whenever there was a camera, I avoided it like the plague.

Turning away from the camera…

Not even smiling on family photos because I worried about my ugly teeth.

But this is about to change.

I'm attempting to document my 20s online, facing a huge fear of mine.

Not for the sake of earning money.

But to express the depths of my being and build a community.

To give my future 40-year-old-self something to laugh at because I already know he'd love to look back.

Journaling, painting, filming, taking photos — everything that comes to mind.

It grounds me in the present moment.

Why?

Creating art puts you in a flow state.

And every time I take a picture, it's a unique piece nobody will ever replicate.

Every time I write, I capture the feelings I'm having right now.

It literally lets you capture the present moment.

It also helps me a lot to make sense of my experiences.

Starting to write is the best decision I made in my entire life.

And guess what?

Writing helps you to think clearly.

Thinking helps you to speak clearly.

Capturing my thoughts in a journal solved problems I wasn't even aware of.

I don't know what I think about a specific topic until I've written about it.

That's all we're supposed to do on this planet.

Learning.

Understanding.

I know what you think right now.

“I don't want to be in front of a camera”

As I said, I hated it to be on photos or videos as well.

But ask yourself, 'why?'

For me, it was the fear of being judged.

I used to cringe so hard hearing & seeing myself talk on record. 

It was even worse at English.

But I started treating myself like a best friend, gaining massive confidence through self-improvement.

You wouldn't beat up your best friend for his insecurities, so stop doing that to yourself.

You wouldn't talk your best friend out of pursuing his dream because he hasn't developed the skills yet, so stop telling that to yourself.

Likewise, you would encourage your best friend to follow his intuition and face his fear.

That's exactly what I'm doing now.

Facing my childhood fears.

Yes, they are scary as fuck.

But it feels much better than regretting it on your deathbed.

There's another excuse:

“My life is boring, I don't know what to talk/write about”

I used to say this daily. 

My granddad kept asking me about stories I was experiencing in school. 

I always said there was nothing special about it.

Lying to him.

Lying to myself.

It's all subjective. It might be underwhelming for you, but meaningful for someone else who hasn't heard about it.

You become blind to your life as it's going.

The point is:

You don't know how fucking blessed you are.

You can tell exciting stories and have an extraordinary life without being an astronaut in space.

It's about finding the extraordinary in an ordinary life.

I'm doing this with a story bank.

At the end of each day, I think about something story-worthy that happened to me.

Guess what?

I did this for almost half a year, and now I got 180 fucking stories to tell.

A collection of special moments.

A source of life lessons.

It all depends on your perspective.

Overcoming these doubts not only helps yourself, but your possible community as well.

If you share these stories on social media, you'll attract people to you.

They will care for your stories because they can relate to you.

I always had the fear that Art is dying because of AI-

Until I realized that people don't want to have perfect content.

They want to relate to your stories. 

They want to see the imperfections because they are imperfect themselves.

Art will flourish even more because of AI.

You'll attract a shit ton of like-minded people around you, people who you'd love to spend your entire day with.

You help them with solving your own problems-

Creating an infinite cycle of improvement, true friendship and authentic art.

At least that's my plan right now. 

I want to share my personality and attract people like me to help them.

But it's in the beginner stage.

I don't even know how to hold a camera at the moment.

I only know that I want to express myself in 360 degrees.

Not restricting myself to one medium only because I strive to be a multidimensional creator. 

There's nothing to choose anymore. 

Just create.

Listen to what your intuition is telling you.

The burning desire to make it happen despite not knowing anything will guide you.

One day, you'll sit in a rocking chair with your grandkids. They'll gather around the fireplace and talk about your incredible journey of creating something special that changed lives.

Adventures stories, inspiring them to find their own way of life.

But besides all that-

Remember to stay present.

Yasar