If you're grieving right now
If you've recently lost someone, please be gentle with yourself. Nothing in this post is urgent. You don't need to organize anything today. Come back to it whenever you're ready, or not at all.
This is a practical, quiet guide to keeping the videos, letters and photos of someone you've lost.
Gathering what they left
Videos and messages from someone we love tend to be scattered: on a phone, in a group chat, in a cloud account, on an old camera card. Some ideas:
- Start with what you already have. Your own phone often holds more than you realize.
- Ask family and friends to send you clips and photos they have. People are often glad to be asked.
- Look for handwritten things. Cards, notes on recipes, margins of books. Photograph or scan them.
- Don't try to do it all at once. One folder, one afternoon.
On accessing your loved one's own accounts: follow each provider's own process. Many platforms have memorialization or account-request procedures. MemoryShield can't open or access anyone's accounts on other services. If social profiles are part of what you're managing, see A memorialized profile isn't a goodbye message.
Keeping them safe
- Make more than one copy of the files that matter most, in places you control.
- Label things with names and dates while you remember them.
- Share copies with family who would want them.
A few gentle prompts, for whenever
- What do you want the people you love to remember about today's family?
- What did the person you lost teach you that you'd want to pass on?
- What's one ordinary moment you'd want to describe?
Support
If you're in immediate danger or thinking about harming yourself, please contact your local emergency number or a crisis line now. You can find one for your country at findahelpline.com.
If you're grieving and struggling, it can help to talk with someone you trust or a local grief support service.
For questions about your MemoryShield account, email support@memoryshield.life. We can't provide crisis or counselling support.