“Reflect upon your present blessings — of which every man has many — not on your past misfortunes, of which all men have some.”
Charles Dickens
When I reflect on my own past, I realize that to some degree I’ve always been documenting my life. Recently I came across a pink zebra-print diary of mine from 2nd grade, discussing how our school’s lunchtime is too short and history lessons are too boring. When I was in middle school, I created a scrapbook of all the photos of things that go unnoticed; like the laundry drying on a clothesline, or the bubbling of pot of tea. When I was in high school, I wrote a 150-page Google Doc accounting the major occurrences of the month. At the time, I didn’t even quite realize why I enjoyed the various modalities of documentation.
Now that I’ve moved on to a much busier schedule, I realize that my documentation only happens when I need it. When I feel like I’ve reached rock-bottom, and the only way to pour out my emotions is in the pages of my Van-Gogh journal that I bought at a thrift shop. Documentation is a way for me to express my feelings, and one of the most relieving methods if I do say so myself.
Documentation of life provides so many benefits, beyond the immediate relief of expression. Looking back at any modality of documentation I’ve made, I always come to a conclusion about a life lesson I had. Each journal entry of mine is a lesson to my future self about how I can handle a situation better, or how I can improve any of wrongdoings in the future. The rudimentary photographs of the random things around me in middle school were a testament to a simple life, one where I was able to feel more humbled by these “little” things around me that I previously took for granted. Frankly, there’s not much of a takeaway with the pink zebra-print diary besides the assurance that I would have been miserable in a history degree… historical documentation is not the kind that suits my fancy.
Regardless, documenting your life doesn’t need to be difficult, or time-consuming. It can be done in so many creative ways, that give you a tiny escape from the typical stresses that your day may bring. Here are some ways that you may want to begin (or continue) recording your life:
- Journals
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Quite possibly the easiest, albeit least creative, way to document your life. The positive side is that it’s probably the least time consuming, and versatile in that journals can be taken just about anywhere during your busy day.
While daily journaling certainly has it’s own benefits, weekly or monthly journal provides another activity to do during a relaxed day to ease your mind.
- 365 Photos
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Each day, take one photograph of the most meaningful occurrence of the day. At the end of the year, you can compile all of the photos and have the experience of looking back and reliving all of the best memories of every day that year.
This method takes a quick second out of every day, but is a reminder to check in with yourself and ensure that each day you are doing something (no matter how little) that you’d like to look back at.
- lists
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Creating lists of your favorite things is a fun way to see how your priorities and desires change through time, and could also be an insight to how you are experiencing the world around you.
Lists in general tend to bring order to chaos, in any sense. This could be a method for you to help feel more in control of your own life, and be able to have a sense of getting things in order. Additionally, by solidifying what things in life you like or enjoy doing, you’re more likely to be drawn towards those products or activities in your daily life.
- Letters
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Write letters to yourself. Write letters to your loved ones. Write letters to the random passerby. Write letters to that professor that never replies to your emails.
Writing letters is a great way to unleash true feelings into a page, whether or not they’re directed at something in specific. Writing down word helps in finding the right way to phrase or even understand what you’re trying get across.
To be completely honest, I have a stack of letters in a box that I’ve kept since high school addressed to various people, and entities. It’s like Lara Jean in “To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before” except my letters are addressed to the PE teacher that marked me tardy on my first day of school.
Some letters carry a lot more sentiment and meaning than other ones, but looking through that box allows me to relive past feelings that I can grow from in the present.
- time capsules
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When I was in 4th grade, my teacher instructed us to decorate a Pringles Box that we would call our “Time Capsule”. In it, we put lists of our best friends, favorite colors, and anything else we chose. I remember I put a single woodchip from our recess playground in it too. I still have that time capsule, and have since expanded it into a more functional wooden box.
I keep all sorts of things in it, like the chopsticks from a restaurant that I went to on my first date in high school. I keep the hotel keycard from my favorite family vacation in it. I keep the interview pamphlet from an accelerated medical school program I was rejected to in it, as well.
These are all very important memories that are very important to me, and no matter how happy or sad these things make me, the sentiment behind them shaped into who I am today.
Being able to look back at all these life occurrences is a testament to how far I’ve come, and reminds me of the long road ahead of me. The adversities I’ve overcome, the happy moments I wish I could relive forever, and all the times in-between are in my journals, photographs, and wooden boxes forever.
These symbols all carry so much meaning to me, even if the average person only sees a random woodchip in a box. I encourage everyone to begin documenting their life, and thank me later when your stress levels are significantly reduced because of a pink zebra-print diary.