Vacation: A Break From Journaling: Personal 40 and Journaling Stuff

Vacation: A Break From Journaling: Personal 40 and Journaling Stuff

August 14, 2014, Thursday, 913 a.m. 

There is a blessing of taking a vacation from everything, including journaling. I talked about this in my last blog post. There are many blessings actually. God made a Sabbath day for a reason. If we were to really take one day off a week, we would not need to take several vacations per year. So, if we don't take one day off a week as a vacation or Sabbath, then we really need to take at least one long vacation each year to recharge and relax so we can gain a new perspective.

I took a vacation, and still am, but am adding journaling back in so I can have a journaling retreat at this point as well, where I focus on journaling when I am not doing something or seeing something else. And, as I type this paragraph, I realize how many hours of personal journaling I need to do as well as journaling for my two blog post series, which will become books. I will call them JOURNALING STUFF and 40 for short for now on. 

On this vacation, I've seen the beauty and wonder of this word, of the USA, of history, of critters/animals, of vegetation and flowers, of spending time with a loved one as you make new memories together. God has made a beautiful world. 

Images flash through my mind like a fast slideshow in my mind. 

Memories.

The beauty all around.

Blessings in abundance.

Taking a vacation from my journaling started to take its toll, but I knew in taking a break, I would appreciate it all the more--and I sure do. (Blessing!) 

Vacationing from even my journal was precisely what I thoroughly needed. I didn't realize how much until I made the time.

VACATION PHOTOS

I think I took enough pictures for this journaling blog to last for two to three years (no kidding). Everywhere B and I went, I had journaling pictures in mind. After all, photos are a journal in and of themselves. Then, also assign additional meaning by journaling about them is a wonderful journaling prompt. Then, add the photos to a blog about journaling and let the photo add depth to the words adds another journaling prompt. Each photo has multiple blessings, use and purpose, and memories. My vacation photos are my travel journal, but they also offer so much more for my world of journaling. (Oh, how I hope it his makes sense.)

Hence, I took over three thousand photos. I guess that's closer to a decade of journaling photos. Some of which you will never see, and some you will. Some photos are private and are mine. 

I take photos of my everyday life and go even crazier while on vacation. (All I can say is thank God for the Cloud.) The purpose of each photo is to capture a memory. 

THE IMPORTANCE OF JOURNALING IN MY LIFE

Vacation has helped me to see how much my journaling is part of my life and who I am. I have always known this, and have known it deeply, but this vacation has let me know even more so. After all, this is the first vacation I've taken in the last thirteen years I haven't journaled throughout. I am now, but now is different.

I took seven days off from journaling. It was intentional and purposeful (redundant to say both words, yes, but were used to make a point). Seven full days.

I wanted to take some time just to be. 

This time has expanded my perspective of journaling and I can now write several new blog posts about journaling I would not have if not for this vacation. 

I've always known the importance of journaling, and how it was a way of life, but I did not realize how true this was. Let me say it again: Journaling is a way of life. It is how to live life to its fullest. Journaling helps us to enjoy life as we see and experience the sun and the clouds. 

Journaling is a way of life.

Journaling is a legacy, sure. But, far more importantly, it's a way of life. 

Journaling is how to live life. It's a way to help us enjoy the life we have, even the clouds and storm, not just the sunshine. 

Journaling helps us see there is far more to life than this one moment. This one moment does not define the totality of our lives. 

Journaling is living every moment as if it was sacred and as if it was a blessing.

Journaling is a way of life.

BLESSING OF TURNING FORTY

My birthday is a month from yesterday. I am turning forty. 

Tears well up in my eyes as I fight the waterfall effect and I cannot help but think how I want to capture the blessings of my life in the past, in the present, and in the future. I want to capture it on the page, and thoroughly explore, how every moment has, is, and will make me who I am, which is how God has chosen to show Himself to the world through me (which is His purpose for me and is His glory).

I want to capture every moment and all of the blessings which have come from each. And, this takes my journaling. I want to be intentional about counting every blessing in my life.

JOURNALING STUFF: A JOURNALING PROMPT

What's grabbed you from this blog post? 

How important is journaling?

How important do you want journaling to be in your life?

#Journal #Journaling #JournalingStuff #BlessingOfTurningForty#Turning Forty #Diary #PersonalJournal

(Image credit: Stacy Duplease and Remembering Your Present, LLC August 2014.  Norfolk Botanical Garden.)