I bought my 64 gigabyte iPhone 6 two years ago because I knew who I was and who I still am as a person. I am in love with the memories of my life. I cannot seem to let go of any piece of my day that has been captured behind a lens.

No, I am no photographer; I do not have a keen eye for the perfect angle. I am just a hopeless romantic who lays in bed at night looking at every memory from each stage of my life. I currently have 4,478 photos on my camera roll; 2,212 are from my freshman year of college alone. 706 are from the summer before my life completely changed.

If you look deeply into your photos on your phone, you can see a story that not even words can describe. I spend nights laying awake and revisiting the memory in my head of the night I took that photo of the sunset, recalling what I did and most importantly, who I was sharing that moment with. It's crazy to think that when people break up, they erase every memory they had of that person. If I once loved someone, I will always cherish the memories I had with that person, no matter how badly it ended.

My photos convey a piece of me, showing me how far I have come as an individual. If I delete a photo, I am not just deleting a photo for storage space, I am deleting a piece of my journey that does not deserve to possibly be forgotten. Why would I want to delete a space out of my life, even if it was one of my weak moments?

I have a memory on my phone, a series of pictures of a boy I used to love, who has now erased me from his life. I am unable to erase those precious memories, though, because I think back to how happy I was. The smile on my face in those pictures are irreplaceable. You'd think that those pictures would make me sad, and they do sometimes, but most importantly, they show me how far I have come, and the woman I have become.

You cannot change a photograph. You can erase and you can delete it and try to forget that the photograph never existed, but you cannot delete the memory of it.

Let that photo you hate because you feel like you look fat, or that smile you wish you still had, be your encouragement to succeed and work toward being the best you that you can be. I look back and find that I miss how healthy I looked and felt in October of 2014, and instead of crying about it, I say "okay, I am going to work to make that happen again."

The smile I had when I was in love that day in that photo will peek through every day of my life because I choose to love myself first. I can proudly smile back on the old times that are completely different now because I am grateful for the precious memories.

So many milestones have been conquered through my iPhone 6 camera. I conquered my fear of heights by hiking Mount Walker, I tracked my fitness up 'til the day of my first 5k, and I captured the moments of a love that no longer exists.

You see, what matters most is not the end result, but the journey of getting to that point. The pain, sweat, and tears of getting in shape to feel healthy again were captured through that lens and will be graciously saved and never forgotten. The love I experienced before is what I have saved on to my camera roll, not the angry moments after the love ran out. I look back and I smile, knowing that I wouldn't have traded each moment for any better "end result."

No matter how horrible the photo may seem, just know it's a memory that is a part of your journey that you will cherish for the rest of your life.