The Art of Being Alive: One Bite, One Step, One Memory at a Time
- Xinmeng Hu
- 4月25日
- 讀畢需時 3 分鐘
已更新：4月28日
There's something I didn't have space to talk about in my earlier video pieces, but it's quietly shaped the way I see content, memory, and storytelling.
Long before choosing a niche or creating structured content, I had already started documenting my life. Two months before I was born, my parents bought a handheld DVD camcorder, spending an entire month's salary just to make sure they could record the moment their first—and only—daughter arrived. That impulse to document—through images, videos, and language—became second nature to me. I picked up the camera and pen not long after I learned to write. Looking back, I'm grateful for those habits. I can revisit moments in my archive anytime, as if flipping through time—not just as memories, but as something tangible. In today’s digital age, documenting has become even more accessible, but its emotional value has never changed.
Last year, after my grandmother passed away, I had a conversation with my mother that stayed with me. She told me her biggest regret was not having taken more photos or videos of her parents. Now that both are gone, she finds herself longing for something physical to remember them by. She misses them deeply, but what remains exists only in her memory. That moment reminded me of how fragile remembering can be—and how meaningful it is to have something to return to.
That’s a big part of why I started my channel. I see it as a personal archive—something my loved ones and I can revisit in the future, a place where I can keep track of who I was in my 20s, 30s, 40s, and beyond. Somewhere my memories have room to grow, rather than fade.
At the same time, this space is not just for me. It’s something I hope to share with others. My work is shaped by both lived experience and academic grounding—I hold undergraduate and graduate degrees in social science, with a focus on gender and minority studies. Growing up, I often felt frustrated by the narrow expectations placed on young girls. Over time, I’ve come to a more peaceful relationship with myself—something I spoke about in my very first video expression, "You doing well—that alone is a quiet act of feminism." I shared one of my most personal stories there, hoping it could spread a little love and courage to anyone who might need it.
This space I’m building is also about inspiring others to live more fully and with less shame for simply being themselves. In my second video piece, "Baking bread made me fall back in love with eating," I reflected on how something as simple as making sourdough helped me reconnect with food, patience, and self-trust. Food has always been a core part of my life. In my family, it is our most cherished love language. As a child, I found so much joy in all kinds of food. But growing up, I gradually lost that natural ease, trying to fit into smaller sizes and meet the strict, often unhealthy, social expectations around appearance. That’s why I want to encourage more young people to break free from food guilt, to savor every bite, and to live for themselves—not for impossible standards.
Outdoor movement is another part of the story I want to explore further. Although I haven’t had the chance to share much about it yet, I plan to. Not performance-driven fitness, but joyful, challenging movement that brings us outdoors and closer to nature. I’ve always found energy and strength through sports, especially those under the open sky. I love the feeling of pushing my limits—not in pursuit of an ideal body, but for the process itself: trying, failing, learning, and growing stronger. In a post-pandemic world, when health has become even more essential, it’s time to shift the conversation from thinness to strength. Especially for women, building muscle, breathing fresh air, and feeling grounded in nature should be a central part of how we think about self-care.
These themes might seem different at first, but what ties everything together is a simple desire—to reconnect with our natural selves. To eat without fear, to move without judgment, and to remember what truly matters.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to turn one of my passions into real work. This is the direction I’m heading. And if you find even a small piece of yourself reflected in any of this, I’m glad you're here.
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