“Where does the time go?” How often have we said or heard that? The objective of our very humble blog is to offer some suggestions on how to realize the most from the 24 hours in our days; to offer the (very key word) perspective necessary to fully value and appreciate every day of our lives.
With that in mind, a suggestion that we’ve all heard of (at least) is keeping a journal. When we journal we know where the time went! Of course there are many other compelling reasons to journal, but when you have those moments where it feels like time has flown by, in my opinion there is no better “grounding activity” than pulling out your journal and reading about what you were doing, thinking, going through, struggling with, etc., you know, the stuff life is made of!
I have kept a journal since January of 1993 (over 20 years). I began writing in 9 1/2 x 6 spiral bound notebooks, and did that for 12 years, then I switched to doing it electronically on a Word document on Tuesday, October 4, 2005. Since that day I have entered 434 pages on that Word document.
Lori and I recently moved…again. For me, this is the 1oth move in 13 years, and the 18th move in 24 years (that’s another story). As I was moving boxes I came across one filled with my old journal notebooks. I took the opportunity to grab a random journal and read a few pages. The first page I read was dated, Saturday, April 21st, 2001, which is scanned and attached here.
When I read that simple, single page it took me back to so much more than was written on that page! I immediately remembered the house I lived in, what the new addition looked like; I remembered the garage and back yard, how old my kids were, what we did for fun, etc., all of it. I knew where that day went and what I did with it! I shot my gun (which I love to to), I took a run…and most importantly, I had the perspective that this time is fleeting and I needed to appreciate it. The final words in this journal page, written over 12 years ago, were “I must own the 24”. Wow! Now, it’s not like I was the first one to ever use the phrase “own the 24”, but I just thought it was cool that 12 years later I am in a place with a partner who is perfect for me and we are taking strong steps to actually own the 24, and maybe actually help others do the same!
So consider starting a journal. Even if you don’t feel like writing…write that! “I don’t feel like writing today”. That’ll get you started! Write how you are feeling, what you did yesterday, what you plan to do today, what you are grateful for, what your plans are, etc. It doesn’t matter, just write. It only takes a minute.
And then maybe 12 years from now you will come across your old journal writings and have the peace of mind of knowing that you actually know where the time went!
