by Leigh
Do you keep a journal? I have tried many times to keep a written journal. It all starts with a trip to Target. There I am on the stationary aisle ooh'ing and aah'ing over all the different notebooks trying to decide which one is going to come home with me and be my perfect journal. Then I mosey on over to the office supply aisle where I carefully select the perfect extra fine point ink pen (Pilot G-2 0.38 to be exact) that will create beautiful writings on the pages of my journal. I come home and settle in to my comfy chair with a cup of tea, a meditative mind ready to pour out my heart into this notebook.
And then...............nothing.
I sit awhile longer trying to let the words flow from my mind and heart through my hand and to the paper, but all I see on the page is doodles. I guess you could say I'm now a professional doodler. Thoroughly frustrated after attempting this multiple times...I give up. My frustration turns to guilt and envy as I hear friends speak of their journal collections and how much they enjoy reading through their past years and all I have to show is many notebooks with some doodles....albeit very cool doodles.
After years of repeating the "select a journal, find a pen, sit in a chair and then nada" routine, I have given up. It's very frustrating to have a desire to do something but have the inability to follow through with it. I finally realized, however, that I am keeping a journal, but in a photographic way. I can look back through my photostream and relive days of my life. There are photos from the first day of school and the first lost tooth. There are photos of sidewalk chalk masterpieces and the first Crabapple blooms. I can look back through my photos and see what age six and age ten look like. I even have photos of me which are usually few and far between but I have been able to include myself thanks to the ease of my iphone's reverse camera. Every couple of months I print my instagrams in a book through Blurb. So now I settle into my comfy chair with a cup of tea, a meditative mind, an open heart and relive moments through my photographic journal.
13 comments:
Wow Leigh! I can't tell you how many times I have done that!! I thought it was just me!! My sister journals every day fir hers,and I can't gt a page! This makes me feel much better!
I do have to say tho, that I have benn taking Kat Sloma's course on finding your eye . I didn't keep up for a while, but I saved the classes. Recently I've gotten really into it. Having a topic assigned does get my juices flowing- and I'm enjoying it.
Oh can I identify with your words today. I would like to show you my stack of pretty journals that I have started but never really kept up. But like you I find that my picture-taking and my blog are my journaling. I guess it really doesn't matter how you do it, journaling, blogging, instagram it's all good and helps us to remember our lives.
I can so identify with the standing in the aisle looking at the journals. Journaling for a couple of days and then nothing. But I have found since I started a blog I am journaling, a photo journal. And I now actually have paper journals full of stories, since I write my posts out on paper first. I just had to come at it from a different angle :)
I have just been liberated! Thank you. I too have a stack of 'cool' looking journals, stare at the art journal pages on the web and what I really like is just the 'art'. Words flow from me once in a blue moon, at least about what's going on inside me. With the phone now I have definitely got a photo journal going and this year nearly daily. Thanks again. Love your photos!
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and lovely images. Like you, I struggled for years to "journal" without success. However, last year I got into Julia Cameron's idea of "morning pages". Not intended to be a journal per se...more stream of conscious writing. Really takes the pressure off feeling like I need to write something profound! As a result my writing does occasionally reveal something that is brewing inside. Love your idea of having books made of your photos. I really need to do that. Cheers!
Yes, I've been there too. When my first son was born, I wanted to keep a journal about my motherhood experience. It has exactly two entries! Photo taking has been my journal as well. However, when my oldest son turned 30, I realized I had all these stories in my head that weren't written down anywhere and I did a Blurb book for him called "30 Moments to Remember" where I wrote down those stories along with photos to go with them. I'm so happy I took the time to write those stories down as this book is a treasure not only to him but to me as well. I think however we choose to record our days, the photos and stories will be a treasure. Thanks for this great post and I love your photos.
Yes, we do need to record the days of our lives. (Hmmm ... have I heard that somewhere?) The format doesn't matter, the doing does. The cool thing about photo journaling is that it is shared openly and memories are recalled together. Written journals too often are not meant to be shared in this lifetime. With photos, we can all say, "I remember ..." Lovely post, Leigh!
Like all the others who have commented, I have done the same as you. WHY do they have to make those journals look so darn pretty?? I've attempted and failed, but realized several years ago that I have the photographic journal of our lives. Like you said, from the chalk art on the sidewalk to the missing teeth. It all works. And you do a great job documenting your every day!
OH! I seriously thought it was just me. Seriously, the Target scenario has my cracking up. Can't tell you how many times I've done this.
well i must confess that i am a journal junkie. ;) but for the most part i use them as a way to write down the stuff in my head. not 'journaling memories' so to speak, but more for if i come across a neat quote or see a cool photoshop tip or something. i also use mine as place to to write down blog post ideas etc. but have such a way leigh of telling stories through your photos. truly...such a gift. and putting them together in a book is the perfect way to remember it.
I use to be a faithful journal person but I find that I have other outlets - blog, photography, meditation - that I draw on now that I no longer feel the desire to journal on a regular basis. that is not to say that I don't on occasion put pen to paper and do what I call a brain dump. but those times are few and far between these days.
I keep journals like Kelly, things that pop in my head for blog posts, things that inspire me, sometimes deep contemplative thoughts, but its not pretty and not everyday with a date. It's scribbled and messy and I write in them only when I feel prompted. I like your idea of instagram photos into books, and I love the other blurb books I've done! great post...
Lol I have so been there I have a drawer full of pristine notebooks and a tin full of beautiful pens but.... nothing in them not even a doodle !!. So, no more.. I'm with you, digital all the way either digital art journaling which is way less stressful no mess, digital scrapbooking and Blurb books... sorted...
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