“And who am I? I am Precious Ramotswe, citizen of Botswana, daughter of Obed Ramotswe who died because he had been a miner and could no longer breathe. His life is unrecorded; who is there to write down the lives of ordinary people?” —From The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith
You have a story to be told: Experiences, life lessons, ideas, dreams and observations. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, married or single. It doesn’t even matter if you have children. Someone’s children are waiting to hear your story.
Think about history. I don’t mean the dates and events that fill history books. I’m talking about the real-life history—people, everyday people like you and me, who make history in a thousand little ways. We live in a historical time, you and I, and our tales will be important to generations to come.
Journaling, or telling our stories, can be challenging. “I’m not a writer!” you might say. You don’t have to be. The simple act of putting your story to paper gives a name, a face, a person to the times we live in today. After all, today’s events are tomorrow’s history lesson. What better way to make history come alive than with journaling?
Questionnaire
Sit down, pour a cup and consider these questions. They’re designed as a guideline for creative journaling—you may want to revisit this list in a year or two: some answers will change, and some will stay the same.
1) In this year, I am ______ years old. I feel _______ years old.
2) My family is made up of:
3) I do _____ for a living. This is what I love about my job… This is what I would change…
4) My personal motto is:
5) My very best friend is:
6) This is what I do on an average day:
7) When I’m feeling down, this is what always cheers me up:
8) My definition of “success” is:
9) This is what I do to express my creativity:
10) When I need help, these are the people I call on:
11) My spiritual beliefs are:
12) My favorite color is:
13) One thing that changed my life in the past year was:
14) One event (world-wide or local) that impacted my life was:
15) One thing I really, really want to do in my life is:
16) One place I’ve always wanted to travel to is:
17) This is one thing that is wonderful about my life:
18) This is one thing I’d like to change about my life:
19) My very favorite book is:
20) My favorite music is:
21) My best friend would use these three words to describe me:
22) I am passionate about:
23) This is a time/situation when I felt strong/confident:
24) One lesson I’ve learned about myself is:
25) One lesson I’ve learned about other people is:
26) If I could time-travel, this is where I’d go:
27) One of my goals for the next year is:
28) This is what keeps me up at night:
29) This is what gets me out of bed in the morning:
30) This is the legacy I want to leave:
You don’t have to be a great writer to create art journals or journaling-filled scrapbook pages. Remember, no critics will grade your storytelling style, your spelling or your punctuation.
Happy Tuesday!
PS. Want to do more journaling with me? Then check out my Kick Start Art Journaling online workshop for just $15!
Thanks!