If you have been on social media for a little while, you might’ve seen people on Tik Tok talking about how girls keep all of their thoughts in their notes app. This might not be true for everyone, but it definitely resonates with me because I have been using my notes app as a collection of thoughts for quite a while now. If you have done the same, you might know that it can be incredibly fun, and sometimes insightful, to go back and look through what you used to think about.
Folder: Nostalgia
One of the folders in my notes app is literally labelled “Nostalgia” and holds multiple notes that I no longer use, but wanted to keep to look back on. One of the notes in that folder is called “Russian” and is from quite a few years ago, when a friend and I tried to learn Russian. We made lots of notes and had lots of fun, and although I haven’t continued learning the language, looking at this note never fails to get me intrigued again. I have another note called “show notes” from when I did theater in high school, which contains some logistical information like where to go and what to bring to the performance, but it also has some silly reminders, like “reel it in” and focus. This folder doesn’t really contain anything particularly important, but it’s fun to keep the memories anyway.
Folder: Ideas
This folder primarily houses random ideas I get for stories and poetry. I have always loved creative writing, in fact I’m majoring in it, and I love to keep track of inspiration. Ideas often come when I don’t have the time to sit down and write them, so I have to tuck them away for later. Some of these notes go back to 2019, and one of them is an idea for a project I did in high school. Maybe soon I will try out some of the ideas I haven’t had the chance to follow through on.
Folder: Random
This folder is truly random and has many different notes in it, some of them being half-baked thoughts that I never went back to. There is a recipe for strawberry gelato that I first made for culinary arts class in high school, which I needed to save because it was so delicious. I have a note called “words” that just has new words I encountered and wanted to add to my vocabulary. I have words from 2021 to 2023, but somewhere along the way I stopped adding to it. I have a very old note that was simply for ranting when I was angry or upset, which is honestly pretty funny in hindsight. I also have a note called “poetry because why not,” which is actually when I first started writing poetry, all because I couldn’t sleep one night. It has some very old (and not great) poetry in it. There are so many more random notes in that folder that contain different thoughts I’ve had, but they are still very interesting to look back on.
Folder: Lists
Probably the biggest folder I have is called “Lists” because I love to keep track of everything. I have a running list of my favorite energy drinks, which I started when I first tried one. I’ve tried a variety of Monster, probably every Red Bull, some Celsius, Alani Nu, Bang, and others (I might have a problem). I include ratings out of ten, and some notes on my thoughts. My personal best ratings were for Monster Khaotic, Alani Nu Tropsicle, and Celsius orange pomegranate. I remember being very surprised by the Celsius because they usually aren’t my favorite, but I noted that I found this one in Canada, with an ominous “If I ever find it again…” Another note that I added to for a long time was a list of quotes by family and friends. I remember I would whip out my phone right away when anyone said anything particularly funny to me. This note is incredibly fun to read through, returning to memories I haven’t thought of in a long time. Of course in my “Lists” folder I have a bucket list, which includes watching a rocket launch in person, going skydiving, and seeing the northern lights somewhere you can really see them. There are also a variety of to-do lists, so this folder truly does contain a lot of different thoughts that have taken up space in my brain.
When I go through my notes, I get to almost travel back in time to what I was doing and thinking. It’s incredibly fun to have a place where mostly insignificant thoughts are held, because there is often a lot of life in the insignificant moments. If you haven’t browsed your notes app in a while, you definitely should, and if you don’t have a place that contains your random thoughts, I highly recommend starting one.