#137: When The Circumstances Don't Show Up in the Vacation Photo
Sep 11, 2023
Thor Challgren
In today's episode, I pose a question: when you look at a picture, do you see the circumstances behind the photo? And do they matter?
I recently returned from an Alaskan cruise, and had an amazing time seeing the sights. On one morning, I took dozens of pictures as we sailed up Endicott Arm toward Dawes Glacier. Everything about this moment was perfect; the weather, the light, the glacier.
Oh, also, I had COVID.
But did that really matter? If you looked at the pictures I took, would you even care about that? Will I care about that years from now?
In this episode, I argue for the idea that the circumstances or conditions of our present moment may not matter as much in the long run.
In today's episode, I pose a question: when you look at a picture, do you see the circumstances behind the photo? And do they matter?
I recently returned from an Alaskan cruise, and had an amazing time seeing the sights. On one morning, I took dozens of pictures as we sailed up Endicott Arm toward Dawes Glacier. Everything about this moment was perfect; the weather, the light, the glacier.
Oh, also, I had COVID.
But did that really matter? If you looked at the pictures I took, would you even care about that? Will I care about that years from now?
In this episode, I argue for the idea that the circumstances or conditions of our present moment may not matter as much in the long run.
I've just returned from vacation and I want to share with you a picture that I took while I was on vacation. Now, if you're watching this on YouTube, I'll show you the picture. If not, if you're listening to the podcast, imagine this you're sailing up this glacier fjord in Alaska. This is Endicott Arm. I'm sailing up here on the ship looking out at this amazing scenery. When we turn the corner and we see the sunlight beaming down on this amazing glacier that we've been sailing to reach for about an hour or so, it's early morning. It's just the most spectacular scene you could possibly imagine. Now here's the thing about this photo. When I took this photo, I had COVID. Today, I want to talk about how the circumstances don't show up in the final picture. Welcome to.
Speaker 1:
Every Day, a New Thought. I'm Thor Chalgren. Every weekday, I share one new thought. Today's thought is inspired by my recent trip to Alaska. I went on a cruise with a bunch of people from my spiritual center and we saw amazing sights on this trip. There were whales, so many whales I lost track. Bears, bald eagles, glaciers.
Speaker 1:
On Wednesday, in the middle of this trip, we were sailing into Endicott Arm, which is this Norwegian fjord looking very narrow fjord that you sail up At the end of this is Dawes Glacier. This was about maybe seven o'clock in the morning. I'm out on my balcony taking pictures. I probably took at least two or three dozen pictures, because every time you turn the corner you thought, oh, this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Then you turn the corner and there would be something even more amazing At the end of it. You turn the corner and you finally see the glacier. It's just incredible. The whole time I'm taking pictures I had COVID. About five hours before this happened I'd kind of woken up in the middle of the night, didn't feel great. I went into the bathroom and took a test and discovered that, yes, for the first time in three and a half years I had finally gotten COVID. I put a mask on, went back to sleep. I get up in the morning because we start sailing into this fjord at five o'clock in the morning. I want to see this. I put on a heavy coat, go out, sit on the balcony, and I'm going out and taking pictures this whole time. I don't care how I feel, because this is the most amazing thing I've ever seen.
Speaker 1:
What's fascinating to me is, if you look at these pictures now, of course, you'll never know what my circumstances were when I took the picture. You wouldn't know by looking at the picture like, oh yeah, he's got COVID when he's taking that picture. You're just going to think that is an amazing picture and there's going to be nothing that you would ever know about that picture. I'm the only one that knows that. In truth, years from now, I probably won't even remember that particular detail.
Speaker 1:
It's like when you on your phone, when the memories come up of, oh, this is a memory from two years ago, three years ago, 10 years ago, I'm probably just going to look at that picture and go, that's an amazing picture. I'm not going to be thinking about the fact that I didn't feel great or that I had COVID during this picture. So my point in sharing this is that the circumstances of the moment don't show up in the picture On that iPhone screen. Years from now, when that picture comes up, I'm not going to look at it and go, well, yeah, I mean that's a pretty good looking picture, but honestly, oh god, can you remember I had COVID when this was taken? No, it's only me that adds that sort of mental caption to the photo or into the memory, if I choose to, and if I don't choose to add that caption, that mental memory, then what I'm actually left with is a pretty picture. The photo is what endures, not the temporary condition. So if you have some temporary condition or circumstance or challenge in your life, think of it as taking a photo in that moment and finding what's good in that moment, what's amazing in that moment, and just know that the circumstance of whatever challenge you're facing in that moment, it's going to fade in time and what you will be left with is the amazing memory.
Speaker 1:
That's the show for today. I hope you liked this episode. If you did, please hit like. If you're watching it on YouTube, if you're listening to the podcast, please subscribe or follow the show on your favorite podcast app. Until next time. Thanks for listening.
