Recently, I was reading through my old piles of diaries and journals, and I came across a hidden gem that I wanted to share with you guys. Way back in middle school, I started an "Adventure Book" or a "Memory Journal" to keep track of those insane adrenaline-rush memories that I never wanted to forget. Basically, I would write down every single at least slightly eventful thing that I wanted to remember and look back on in the future.
It's honestly kind of terrifying how fast the human brain can forget things- especially if you're someone like me, who forgets why they walked into the room the moment they open the door, and ends up going back and forth like 5 more times. I created this journal because while the larger events in your life may be memorable, there are also so many small moments in a day that bring you happiness, events that you may not remember 5 years later, or even a month later. I wanted a way to keep all of those different memories and have a way to look back on them in the future!
Recently though, I've gotten lazy and stopped updating the journal- and by recently I mean in the past 3 years, so that's a definite large chunk of missing time. But since we've all spent the past two months sitting inside in Quarantine, I figured it was a good time to re-start the Journal and update it with everything that's happened in the past couple years. I've been filling it out over the past week, and it's been a super fun experience- I really love reading (and cringing at) all the old memories I recorded from middle school. I wanted to share this with all of you guys so you too, can look back on and cringe at yourself in a couple years!
In this blog post, I will be showing you guys how you can create your own Memory Journal!
Find A Journal
Journals are super personal preferences, there's really no guide on how to find one you like: you can literally use anything. If you're not a journal type of person, you can even just use normal binder paper and then combine them in a binder of some sort, I just personally find journals to be much easier. For these kinds of entries, I've found that I really like using smaller bullet journal/ buffalo journal type notebooks.
If you're struggling with finding your perfect journal, here are some links to my favorites:
(Note: Literally all of them are from Typo- I highly recommend! They have super good quality and really cute journals for pretty good prices)
Typo's Vintage Brown Buffalo Journal: https://cottonon.com/US/a5-buffalo-journal-%285.8%22-x-8.2%22%29/191002-216.html?dwvar_191002-216_color=191002-216&cgid=journals&originalPid=191002-216#prefn1=brand&prefv1=Typo&start=33
Typo's Plant Buffalo Journal: https://cottonon.com/US/a5-blank-buffalo-journal-%285.8%22-x-8.2%22%29/136265-07.html?dwvar_136265-07_color=136265-07&cgid=journals&originalPid=136265-07#prefn1=brand&prefv1=Typo&start=49&sz=48
Typo's Plain Color Buffalo Journals: https://cottonon.com/US/a5-buffalo-journal-%285.8%22-x-8.2%22%29/191002-259.html?dwvar_191002-259_color=191002-259&cgid=journals&originalPid=191002-259#prefn1=brand&prefv1=Typo&start=1&sz=48
2. Write it down
(1) First, create a short and recognizable title so that you can later easily flip through your journal and know which event you're talking about, just from looking at the title!
(2) Next, record the date of this event. You want to be able to know when the event occurred!
(3) Last, describe the details of the event in your own words. I cannot tell you guys how cool it is to read about past events that are written in your very own voice. It's like seeing through your eyes, but past-you's eyes. It's also just overall really cool to see how your language, slang, and writing style changed through time. When writing about the event, include as much description and miscellaneous details as possible- even if it seems like a very small or obvious aspect of the story, those are often the things we will forget in the future.
(4) Outside of writing and description, you can also decorate your page with misc. bullet-journal style designs, as well as attaching other related materials to the page! For example, if you have photos from the event, you can print them out and tape them onto the page. If there's a certain object that you have from the event that you want to save, you can tape it onto the page as well!
Because I am extremely lazy and don't have the patience to sit down and spend an hour creating an artistic and intricate page, my pages are pretty simple and take less than 10 minutes to create- if you're in the same boat, something like this might work for you:
(Before you ask, yes that is indeed me and my friends dabbing. We do not speak of it.)
If you're the artistic type, you can even go as far as to create something like this:
(I am now re-evaluating my own page and deciding it looks like a five year old compared to these artistic master pieces below, but you know what, that's ok- do whatever works for you!)
3. Voila, you're done! Remember to continue to update consistently and have fun reminiscing!
Now that you're done, you can encourage your friends to start a memory journal with you! The journals are super fun to look back on, and they are even funner when you can do it with your loved ones: try trading with your friends and comparing your funny different events, or comparing the different things you wrote for the same event!
FAQ: What's the difference between this Memory Journal and just a normal diary? Well, honestly, it's not extremely different! But personally, I like organizing my journals and having seperate ones for separate things. Some of you guys may use diaries to write down and keep track of important events as well, but I find that diaries are more for writing down emotions and feelings, while the Memory Journal is purely for recapping specific events and memories. If anything, it's more like a little scrapbook!
Thanks so much for reading! If you're ever attempted a DIY similar to this, share your own experiences or photos with scrapbook-ing down below in the comments, and if you tried our technique, share how it worked out for you!
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