Easy Things to Do During the Pandemic

For over 50 years, I have been a dedicated keeper of JOURNALS. Actually I began long before I started college, but during college my journal keeping really began to blossom. The most notable pre-college journal was one I inherited from my then-husband Michael as we drove around Europe for a year living in a VW Van. He began by listing what we spent money on and how many miles we had traveled. He didn't want to do it anymore, so I took it over with one line and two line descriptions of where we were - not very creative or interesting. At that time, I wasn't really a 'writer' and what I mean by that term is not someone who writes to be published, but someone who writes. After we returned home from Europe, I began to write, modestly in little address books, and pocket calendars and then in little pocket sized looseleaf notebooks, composition books and so on. In college, when I was in my late 20's I moved on to spiral bound sketch books which were mostly art based but also had lots of writing of ideas and quottions, thoughts and reviews of art shows, notes from class. Years later, the journals evolved into introspective thought writing, memories, rants and then, in an exercise to branch out, items from the outside world - news. The evolution took place because of a class I had taken where we read a history of Journal keeping. Actually I have lost and re-purchased that book many times because it had such a profound influence on me. After that, I began to buy and read other people's journals especially those of people who had lived through monumental events (think The Diary of Ann Frank). Eventually, I also began to collage from newspapers and magazines into my journals. I am sad to admit that for a certain time when I was seriously busy with too many jobs, a child to raise and a house to take care of all on my own, my journals descended into lists of chores to do and celebrations of chores done. Lately, having been retired for a long long time, my journals have become more - a respository for book reviews, ideas, recipe's, evens in my life and in the world, and PRACTICE of new things I want to try such as cartoons and simple line drawings in the style of graphic novels. I am not good at it at all which is why the privacy of a journal is so freeing, you can do something you aren't good at and enjoy it without judgement. In these times of the pandemic and social isolation, my journal has been a great source of comfort and company to me. Also, I print out pictures from my phone and my laptop and glue them in there too, sometimes for ideas for other projects, sometimes just because I like them. MY SUGGESTION TO YOU IS START A JOURNAL If you feel speechless or tongue tied, let me give you some hints: Jot down some memories, as in if you are near a holiday, remember one from the past. A memory I just added was about a childhood friend who recently died and I wrote about how we used to iceskate in the little shallow pools that formed alongside the Pennsauken Creek where we lived in a new housing development. This friend, Joe McGuigan was the best ice skater I had ever seen. He could do backward flips, jump over barrels (large trash cans) and skate like a neibhborhood Olympian. He had other telents as well, all of them athletic, and he had charisma. We all wanted to be with him and bask in the spirit of fun and adventure that he alway seemed to be enveloped in. He never left our small town and I knew nothing of his life after childhood because I moved far away and never came back, although, of course I visited. So, you see how a memory begins to evolve. You can note dreams, and if it helps you get going, note chores and things you want to get done - this doesn't have to be creative, it can evolve. Cut things out of newspapers and magazines and glue them in. Here is a good spot for a supply list: Spiral bound sketch books can usually be found at craft stores for around $5, or from amazon.com Buy three packs of glue sticks, or just one glue stick to start. Good to have on hand a packet of inexpensive smooth gliding ball point pens For greater creativity you may wish to have a pack of colored pencils. Markers bleed through the pages so if I use them, I usually glue pictures on the other side of those pages. Colored pencils are better and you can get them even at ShopRite. Most likely you already have scissors handy, keep these things on a coffee or end table near you and always at hand for easy access to get yourself into the habit. You may be surprised at how more fluent your writing comes when you enjoy the freedome of your journal. Today I want to do a Covid 19 Update. We live in momentous times, it is easy enough to find things to write about these days, including the weather! This morning I did a series of poorly drawn but, for me, fun cartoons depicting what I titled: THE RISE AND FALL OF THE SNOWMAN EMPIRE! (pronouce Snowman to rhyme with Roman) I had taken some photos of snowmen that appeared after our recent snowstorm, then a giant one I saw that was a full story tall! and then a day or two later when the snow came out, they all began to melt by losing their heads. Things to cut out - recipes, book reviews so you can decide to what to buy to read, tv reviews - shows you are watching or may want to watch, and I even stoop to cutting out outfits I like from clothes catalogues that come in the mail. I used to get home goods catalogues and got lots of ideas from them. The more you do, the most you will think of to do, and your journal will become a scrapbook of your mind and your times! Happy trails, indoors and outdoors! Jo Ann wrightj45@yahoo.com Ps. A great way to start your journal is to do FIVE GRATITUDES! Think each day of 5 things you have to be grateful for - it changes your brain. It makes me think of the old toy VIEWMASTER. If you remember this toy, it was a binocular shaped viewer and you could put in a disk with images and click a side button to move from one picture to the next. Doing five gratitudes puts the grateful to be alive slide disk in place of the complaints one. There is plenty to complain about in this year of the pandemic and Trump, but there is always plenty to be grateful for as well and it is good to remind yourself each day. I tried to put some images from my journals on here but ran into problems with the import function. Still having trouble with this new format. But if you scroll back far enough through my old posts you can see an open page in Ann Whitall's diary from 1762 and the cover of my grndmother's diary from 1950's.