Your story

You know that feeling when you come across an old journal of yours and flip it open and read it? The rush of emotions, the embarressment (at least for me... are my thoughts really that silly sometimes?), the perspective?

It seems like lately I have been seeing and hearing a lot about recording your story... your story being all the regular and extraordinary and unique stuff that makes up your particular life.

Everyone has something to say, and only you can tell your story. No one else can do it for you.

[cue "Unwritten" by Natasha Bedingfield here, right?]

Only you know those feelings in your heart when you look at your sleeping baby; the frustration you feel at the way you continue the same patterns in your life; the beauty you see when you open up the door on a fall day; the anger you have about someone that hurt you; the hope you feel when you read about grace; the joy you get at reorganizing your bathroom drawers...

all those things. Those things that make up you.

You don't have to be a scrapbooker to make sure your story is recorded some how. I think people get overwhelmed by scrapbooking... they see all the stuff, they've heard all the mantras about getting "caught up," the thinking, "I'm not creative enough."

To me, that is not what scrapbooking is. For me, it is the way I can express my story.

For some of you, it might be through taking pictures, or through blogging, or through music, or through journaling, or a myriad of other ways that God gave us the ability to express ourselves.

Like I said before, I feel like I've been seeing a lot of reminders about telling my story lately. Like this post from Kerry Lynn where she says,

" i don't want it to be the only focus. the product is just a tool of the trade, albeit a beautiful & fun tool, but i mostly want the pages to say something real. document something real. show something real.

i want to scrapbook to document and record. i want to scrapbook to put it all down. everything. every little piece and facet of my life that i get an urge to do so. every thought that passes through this head of mine that i censor. the little minute details of the day, the life i am living. now."

And how Jessica Sprague is offering this free class online:

And it's inspired by this thought: there are so many other stories I have to tell, and want to tell. So many stories for which I didn’t have a picture, or the picture wasn’t good enough, or I ran out of time and went on to something else, or whatever other reason kept me from telling it. (Jessica Sprague)

Or how Photojojo will (for free) send you photos twice a month from your flickr account from one year ago in their Time Capsule Project. What a cool way to be reminded to sit down and record whatever thoughts come in your head when those photos pop up in your inbox.

There are lots of different prompts out there on the 'net.

Use them. Tell your story somehow.