Carol Adams

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Do You Document Your Daily Life?

I have been documenting my life’s journey since 2014 when Roben-Marie Smith, Rae Missigham, Sandi Keene and Lorraine Bell started the “Documenting Life” project. 

I had been an avid scrapbooker for years but had gotten out of the habit.  Most of my scrapbooks were of vacations and my kid’s special events.  I’d never really thought about documenting everyday life!!!  What exciting things did I have to document?

It has been so much fun to go back and look at each year and see what all our family has been through:  graduations, grandkids, weddings, and so much more.  My grandson loves to look back through my journals and see all the pictures of the family.   

A few months ago, my daughter and I were telling her husband about a doctor’s visit she had been to before they got married.  Lindsey had hurt her foot and she had been in a boot for about a month and it just didn’t seem to get better. So the next step was to go to a specialist. The doctor that was examining her foot was a young guy and he couldn’t understand why when he pressed on her foot, it wasn’t hurting.  He was pressing on the wrong foot!!!

He realized his mistake and immediately left the room and called the other doctor to check out her “right” foot!  We have laughed about this incident so many times.  I told her a few details of the visit that she didn’t remember and I went to my journal and showed her the entry and we just laughed all over again.  She actually said, “Mom, I’m so glad that you are doing this”.  That just made it all seem so worth while.

I’ve recorded the good times and the bad.  Some weeks are full of activities. If I have too much to fill a double page, I’ll add either another page (tip-in) or maybe a pocket where I can put my journaling, pictures or keepsakes.

I believe that we can learn and grow from our mistakes or mishaps.  I’ve written things in my journal and then covered it up because I gave to my Lord and He took it away.  If you’d like more information about doing this, check out my earlier blog post - “How to get rid of your frustrations”. It doesn’t mean that I’ve forgotten the problem but at least it is no longer constantly on my mind just circling around in my thoughts! 

I’ve did a Facebook Live recently showing a few hints and tips that I use to documenting my week.  I hope that you will check it out and start documenting your daily life so that years later you can look back and remember, laugh or cry! 

You don’t need anything fancy…start with a traveler’s notebook, composition notebook or a small journal.  Get some waterproof markers and start documenting your day.  You will be surprised at some of the events in your life that you’ve forgotten about. 

Good Luck and Happy Documenting!