My ears perked up when I heard it. Magnet fishing? Magnet fishing. I was sure I’d heard about it from the many treasure-hunting style YouTube videos my dad would watch on the weekends. Staring intently at the screen, a small treasure would be hauled or dug or gently picked out of a river bed or field or mountainous landscape. Yes, I’d seen something like this before but I’d never heard of someone close to me actually going to do it. Wait, why haven’t I tried such an interesting thing out myself? More importantly, why hasn’t my dad used that metal detector my mom had gotten him a couple of years back (no offence dad)! I thought about it a little more. The feeling of finding something. An item like a gem, gleaming with the stories of those who had held and cherished it before. Or, perhaps they hated it. Perhaps this item was heavy; loaded with a mystery one did everything to forget about. A gun thrown over the bridge of a river. A lucky coin from the 1800’s thrown with a wish trailing behind. Someone trying to remember, or forget, their next big idea. The realization that I had gone hunting for treasure many times before came as quite a surprise. I have tied a magnet to a rope and thrown it out as far as I could across the waters of my mind in the hopes of reeling back a shiny new idea.

I have ventured out with a metal detector and explored far and wide for what interests me and I have, sometimes painstakingly, dug it up or dusted it off. I have also spent days scavenging for something that just never came up. Returning with nothing and vowing to never try again because the disappointment was just too disappointing. The process of treasure hunting is much like the creative process or the adventure of living in itself. You put on your boots and you go adventuring off for something. Most of us do. We might not quite know what that something is but part of the thrill is the unpredictability of it. You get leads. You follow them. Sometimes you get what they used to call “Gold Fever” back in the 19th century which in more modern times can rear its head as burnout, insatiability, lawsuits (talk about a yikes level of commitment) or “that feeling of risking it all for that one golden moment”. Though potentially harmful in its extremes, this process can also be a delightful way of looking at things and finding the most value where you’d least expect it.

If you really look at the charm of the small treasures that people are so drawn to you’ll see that often they’re not just valued for what they can get off the market (although that does add an extra layer of pzazz). The truth of these treasures are the stories they hold; the sense that this item may reveal something about another (or yourself) that answers a question or slots in as a piece of the puzzle of your past. You see it in the things people collect: fabrics, family heirlooms, old coins, photographs, art, artifacts, action figures, old and outdated media, and so much more. These things serve as memorabilia virtually humming with stories that can form the foundation for all kinds of discovery. Fleur Woods worded it lovely when she said, “The things we are drawn to, whatever they are, are our treasures, and this sense of curiosity about an object you collect can give you vital clues to who you are as a creative”. I would take it even further. The things we collect and treasure don’t just give us clues as to who we are as a creative but as a person above and beyond that as well. Where we came from, who we are now, and what we’d like in our futures. 

To live with this sense of open curiosity and to use the treasures we find along the way as the keys to our past, present, and future is a beautiful thing. Sometimes these things reveal ugly truths. Things swept under rugs years ago that many would rather forget. Dirty laundry that was buried deep and thrown far below land and water depths. These things are also important and should be handled with care when they’re uncovered. Remember that heavy-loaded gun mentioned earlier lying at the bottom of the lake that one would rather forget? You can unload and dismantle it once retrieved. You can repurpose the parts for something peacefully new and you can inspire others to do the same throughout it all. Want to know something even better? The very environment itself gets cleaner through these actions of retrieval and repurposing (metaphorically and literally). That’s good on good!

Explore local museums, retrace your steps, ask a grandparent a question, look where you’re walking, and go magnet fishing. Curate your own museum that you can learn from and enjoy. Challenge yourself to repurpose what is not initially useful or is seemingly trash and find joy in the unexpected nature of the treasure hunt as much as in finding a hidden gem. 

Some places to explore the past through places and objects as keys here in South Africa! : 

• District Six Museum  
• Iziko South African Museum
• Ditsong Museum
• Trevor Huddleston Centre 
• The Cradle of Humankind 
• Transvaal Voortrekker Museum 
• Close to home (think your family’s treasure trove of items and objects)
• Out and about (explore while going for walks at parks, on holiday, or on the street you never know what you’ll find)