Why I love scrapbooking & think EVERYONE should do it!
Yes…I’m that girl. I’ve kept a running log of my life pretty much since I could read & write. And yes, I’m that girl-I’ve kept ALL of my old journals, scrap books and many notes, cards and letters that have been given to me along the way.
Oh and when I say scrap books-I don’t mean a pretty book with pictures and cute comments next to them, I mean a book with all of your ‘scraps’-the leftovers from your mind that you just had to get out there: that’s what I mean by SCRAP Book.
But getting back to the point, why I love scrapbooks and why I think EVERYONE should keep one. Over the past few days I have been reading back through the ones I have here with me in Auburn, dating back to about 2004-Isn’t it weird that that is almost ten years ago now! I still think of the 1999 as a ‘few’ years ago! And I know I’m not the only one!
Like I said in one of my previous blog posts “feeling like you’ve grown is one thing…but knowing the things you’ve conquered is another”-well, that’s my point. Reading through my old books was not only extremely entertaining, but very encouraging as well. As humans I think we have the tendency to always focus on the negative in things and take the always/never stance that is so easy to use (this was once pointed out to me by a very good friend of mine). But it’s true…how many of you can imagine yourself saying these things…
"I’m NEVER going to get this done!"
"Why does this ALWAYS happen to ME!?"
I’m sure some of you are nodding, if not, then I’m okay with being the crazy one. That being said, I too am guilty of these sorts of responses to adversity, taking the always/never stance just seems easy-and in all honesty, it’s a easy for you to feel better about feeling bad. Isn’t that weird? We feel sad, depressed, heart-broken, upset, pissed off and instead of trying to make ourselves feel better, we actually do the opposite and make ourselves feel worse with these thoughts & sayings. How many of you have watched a love story the week after you and your significant other broke up? Or listened to the song that makes you sad over & over & over again..until you feel like it was written for you LOL
I mean, that’s kind of ridiculous, if you think about it-or better yet, if you keep some sort of written record, and read back on it. I’m not going to bore you, or rather embarrass myself with the details of my life records, but I’m just telling you that you will be amazed at what you’ve overcome and even more amazed at how you’ve probably conquered something similar to what you may be struggling with right now, but just in a different form, or with a different person or experience. I read a quote I stuck in my art journal back in 2005 that reads;
“I do not write to be understood, I write to understand”
That is exactly what I’m talking about-and one of the reasons this blog is becoming quite therapeutic for me. It doesn’t have to be about anyone else but YOU, yes-you have permission to be selfish!
You may be thinking “but I hate journaling, I’ve tried it before”. I used to have trouble keeping journals because I always hated JUST writing. I hated those little books with lined pages, I felt they were restricting my thoughts. What if I didn’t want to write on line, what if I wanted to write in a circle? I remember when I was younger I would get a journal for Christmas and tell myself I was going to write in it everyday! Well-that’s simply impossible, at least for me. After I gave up that idea, I tried to write every so often, but I just wasn’t that inspired UNTIL I discovered the blank paged book! This was perfect for me! I could write, but I could also draw, paint, stick magazine words, stories or quotes in there. I had space for pictures if I wanted, old cards, letters & emails. You don’t understand how excited this stuff makes me. It became my ‘everything’ book. So now I don’t just have to sit with pen and paper and write I can use markers, and crayons, paint and chalk, colour penils, nail polish, wax-you name it, I’ve done it! The important thing for me was not feeling restricted in the way I wanted to tell my story.
CHALLENGE FOR THE READER
So-this is my challenge for you, if you haven’t done it already. Man or woman, boy or girl, start your first journal…or revamp something you may have started sometime ago. Be creative and I mean CREATIVE, don’t give yourself limits, and don’t try to make it ‘pretty’, just let it be what it is…and the next time your feeling sad, frustrated, happy, overjoyed and simply stressed-open it, maybe with a few magazines, glue and scissors & just see what comes to you (maybe nothing-because that can happen sometimes too) but trust me, at some point, something will come and it will probably do more good than not.
I know you may be thinking-I’m not that creative, this isn’t my thing, but I’m telling YOU, that everyone is creative and everyone certainly has thoughts and questions about life, and even if you only add things to it every once and a while, that will be more than you started with and you’ll be amazed to look back on how much you’ve grown, and how much your world has changed…and if nothing else, I can guarantee it will make you laugh.
Here’s a little peek at a few old pages from my journals, hopefully this will inspire you to start your own record keeping! Enjoy J
Anything goes
I told you they were "scrappy"
Life Questions...lots of them!
Fall Forward
Thinking Space...
This one is great-a sure reminder of how much I've accomplished during my swimming career, and how many great friends and support I've had along the way!
A little painting...hand tracing, doodling...writing
One of my favorite quotes below:
