Why journaling about the little things matters

You lead a glamourous life right? Private jet at your beck and call! A personal chef whizzing about the kitchen! And housework? Pffft…you don’t know what that even means. You have a team of people who ensure your house is spotless and the laundry free. And let’s not forget your personal stylist and makeup artist who ensure you look hot to trot before you leave the house.

Or not?

If you read the gossip mags or follow a celebrity (or celebrity wanna be) on social media you will often see them posting pictures of their glamorous lives. In reality, most of us do not live the movie star life. Our lives are full of routine, running after children, helping with homework, sorting through massive laundry piles, picking up after family members and trying to maintain a full pantry for the hungry hoards. It’s often tedious. It’s sometimes boring. And if you are struggling to find something to write about on your scrapbook page or in your journal, it’s not exactly awe inspiring.

But…

Writing about the ‘boring’ little things that occur in your life is just as important as writing about the big events. Holidays and other noteworthy events are wonderful and enjoyable but they do not reflect your everyday existence. Just as your Wedding Day does not reflect your married life, a holiday is not your everyday life. Your life consists of many events and experiences and more than likely those magical holidays will be surrounded by things that seem trivial, boring or downright mundane.

Life is not always exciting but if you want to document the lives of your family, it’s worth recording all types of stories, no matter how trivial they seem at the time.  

In the above layout, my sons are helping their Dad mow the lawn. Living in Queensland, mowing the lawn was a weekly event during summer so it’s about as mundane as you can get. But geeez…how cute were they? Look at those gumboots (in summer mind you) and earmuffs. The boys loved ‘helping’ Dad and were no doubt dreaming of the day they would be older and Lawnmower capable. A priceless moment that came from something boring.

So…

The next time you are looking for something to write or scrapbook about, look for the little everyday things that occur.

EMBRACE AND RECORD YOUR EVERYDAY LIVES

Instead of running away from writing about your battles with laundry; embrace it.

Take a picture of the pile of clothes next to the laundry basket and talk about the fact that your child can’t quite get the knack of putting them inside. Or maybe write about your other child who tends to fling socks into unexpected places, leading you on a treasure hunt to find them. Or perhaps you are very particular in how the laundry is done. Do you mix colours, darks and whites all together and wash with abandon. Or do you carefully separate? Do you iron? Do you only hang outside and refuse to use the dryer? Do you have a rotary clothes line that the children use as monkey bars? Does it bring up any memories from your childhood and how your mother did the family’s laundry?

Write about your routine, from the time you wake until you go to bed. You could do this in bullet form or in more detail or a combination of both.

For example.

• Did the laundry.
• Child X is again down matching socks.
• Went into to his room and found a stash of 6 socks in his toy box in amongst Lego, Garbarge Trucks, scraps of paper and a half eaten lolly.
• Of course none of the socks are the ones I’m looking for.
• Will have to check the dog’s bed. She is quite the sock thief!

HERE ARE SOME MORE IDEAS FOR WRITING ABOUT THE EVERYDAY “BORING” STUFF

• If you are a stay at home mum, what are your daily routines?
• If you are a working mum, what does your day look like?
• Write about the children’s after school activities.
• Where do you go shopping? Do you have a preference for particular shops?
• What does the morning look like before the children go to school or you go to work?
• What does the afternoon/night routine look like?
• Do you have favourite products, techniques or tips for particular tasks around the home? i.e. Do you have a recipe to make homemade cleaning paste for your bathroom?

Our lives are made up of so many events, big, little, crazy, boring, wonderful. Rather than sticking to the exciting events, write about everything. Not only will it flesh out your life story and that of your kids but you will capture those precious little moments that may otherwise be forgotten (like the lawnmowing layout above).

So the next time you find a collection of stones, screws and bottle tops in your son’s pants when you are hanging out the washing (yep I forgot to check the pockets), write about it. And take a photo if you can. Your child will love the story.