Let’s talk about keeping a journal. Do you keep a journal? Have you ever? Do you wish you had? I’m a “journaler”. I just love everything about it.From shopping for just the right type of journal, as well as the pens,to taking it with me when I travel to record events or just doodle in,to looking back over it days,months or years later….remembering.When shopping for a new journal the questions arise, is it strictly for writing or will there be art work or photos or maybe ephemera? Lines or plain paper? Thin delicate paper or heavy mixed media type? New or vintage? Maybe an old ledger? Decisions, decisions! Or, maybe you, like someone I know, just likes to collect the journals or notebook and you don’t ever get around to actually writing in them….that blank page staring back at you. That’s what the blog is usually like for me, just a white screen waiting for fingers to type words to make sentences and then paragraphs. Oh, the pressure! I’ve finally begun to realize, after 5 years, that I need to treat this more like my journal…..just start writing (or typing, whatever the case may be).
I was in a conversation with the Beekeeper about a place we had been in 2014. Neither of us could remember the street name or even the name of the town for that matter. We were going to try and find the place on google maps, but where to begin without a name? I, as I often do, turned to my beloved journal only to find a BIG gap in my entrees at precisely the time frame I need the information from. Ugh! I find this so annoying! I often look back through my journal to remember when or how or where something happened. But it was of no help this time. I have kept a journal of some sort for years, although I threw most of them in the fire a few years back. I’m not one for writing down a bunch of really personal (as in embarrassing) emotional junk. No judgement meant if you are. I’m just not. But I did write a lot before, during, and after my “practice” marriage. I decided I wanted a fresh start, so they, like that marriage went up in flames. That being said, it took me awhile to get into a groove of writing every or most days again. So….gaps, that’s what I’m left with.
Having said all that, I’m still glad that I’ve kept a journal. It helps to write it down and get it out. I feel like it’s better to write some stuff down even if you just throw it away after. Sometimes there are things you need to say that you don’t really want or need another person to remember. So, you write it down, get it out of your head and trash it. I don’t usually do that, but it’s an option. Some people write stuff out in their art/visual journal and then create their art over top, letting the words just peak through. Whatever the case, I think keeping a log of events in your life is a useful and worth while task. How about you?
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