Over the years, the baby books I bought for my older girls were eventually put in the bottom of a big plastic container where I now toss their artwork, birthday cards, doctor stats, team pictures, good test scores, certificates of achievement, you get it. I date everything first, then in it goes. And there it is.
I like this concept. It’s quick, organized, but not overwhelming and impossible to keep up.
In the theme of this blog and my books (read my first and only other blog entry for clarification), I’ve decided to start a collection of my own. Maybe I’ll add cards, but probably not artwork or my latest height, weight and head circumference.
Mostly, I plan to write. Put it in a box. This box, which I won at an auction last Saturday night when it was full of chocolate.
Now it’s empty and I’m drinking a health shake. More on that later.
I encourage you to get a box, too. Or a tub. Maybe a basket. A bag? Your choice. Fun!
Next fill it with your thoughts. I will prompt you, if needed. One question every week conveniently written in purple. Write down the question, your answer, and don’t forget to date it. Then put it in your box, tub, basket or bag where it will wait patiently to be reread someday. A little piece of you on paper.
Want a real life example of this theory in action? Ha! I have one! It’s a Gap shopping bag full of notes from my best friend in 8th grade, who’s still my best friend by the way and whose handwriting hasn’t improved. Fifty plus folded squares of paper, each one funnier, sillier, more profoundly special than the next. This will be just like that, minus the raging pubescent hormones and references to Duran Duran.
Now I have pictures from 8th grade. They are nice once you get past the ridiculous trends. (I wore a tie - yes, a skinny, navy, knit tie - to my aforementioned best friend’s batmitzvah and there is a whole album of that fashion disaster probably still sitting on her mother’s coffee table.) But my point. Pictures are great. Words are greater.
Ready for your first question to answer? It’s a good one.
Oprah says “do what you love.” Oh, Oprah. That’s very easily said when your Montecito mansion is already built and the lavendar fields are thriving.
For most of us, we do what we need to do -- to earn a paycheck, care for our families, stay semi-healthy. Like this protein shake I’m currently sipping. Berries, yogurt, banana, spinach, flax seed and some strange powder the very enthusiatic vitamin store owner convinced me to buy after methodically decoding metabolic charts oblivious to Beazy’s desire to pry herself free from my arms.
So I ask, if you were to do anything else with your life, besides what you already do, what would that be? No need to factor in schooling or your current burdens (Beazy!). Pure fantasy.
I know what I wouldn’t do. I wouldn’t do anything that puts me in constant contact with nature or away from the comforts of home. That is for sure. I’m not farming anything or living overseas where I need to “immerse.” I definitely wouldn’t pick the hospitality field. No restaurants or bed and breakfasts for me. People pleasing. Yuck. I wouldn’t choose the glamorous life of an actor or performer either. Bleh. Too much attention makes me extremely uncomfortable. Even this blog tests my nerves... and I only have three followers.
Now go get your paper and I’ll get mine. At work, at home, relaxing in your Montecito mansion, it will make today go faster. And add to your future in a way that’s impossible to measure.
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