Are you a journal-er? A planner-keeper? A list-maker?
Every year of high school, college and into grad. school, I never failed to buy a crisp new planner. I loved the idea of beginning the year with a blank slate and fall always felt more like the start of the year to me than frozen over January First. I relished the idea of filling the clean pages with quips and small details of my life and, surely, on some quiet day of my future life, I’d appreciate eavesdropping on my younger self. What she was doing on the third of March or the middle of October would be interesting, if not poetic.
These planners have dispersed throughout the years and the ones I do have are still quite clean—blank, that is. Long story short: When it comes to jotting down my schedule or even flipping over the calendar, I’m fickle at best. Though I start the fall with the best of intentions—a new journal, sticky notes and planner ready—my notes become further and further apart and eventually resemble a trail leading nowhere.
I found this article on the NY Times about a woman who has recorded every dinner she’s had since 1998 worthwhile and motivating. For Ms. Rosentrach, recording dinner is about remembering something tangible. An accurate recollection of her evenings spent round the dinner table. A way to distinguish the rich moments of our past in light of otherwise blurred memories.
So perhaps, despite my years’ worth of half-filled journals and empty planners, it’s not too late to record the seemingly mundane moments that, pieced together, make a life.
Image courtesy of Hugh Chalone
Off the Shelf 