About Me and How the Decade Journal Started:
Diamonds and colored gems are beautiful, but I never really desired to own them. In fact, my jewelry has never been much more than the most basic items like a wedding ring, and a few pieces of department store costume jewelry.
For me, journals and notebooks, pens and pencils, have always been the “sparkly things” that made me look with longing. The empty notebooks are obviously waiting for their purpose to be unveiled, full of potential. And filled notebooks, whether filled with ideas or data, are ideas captured on paper, no longer floating in a vaporous thought, dissolving into the air like the cloud of steam escaping a boiling tea kettle.
I have always been “in search” of the perfect notebook. Like Goldilocks. I wanted one that is not too big, but not too small. It must be “just right.” And with dozens of various sized notebooks and hundreds of pens and pencils, I admit with a chuckle, that I have done some “in-depth” investigation of the matter.
The Decade Journal was an idea birthed in the early autumn of 2019. The big “2020” new year and decade was rapidly approaching, and I had been using the 300 page Boorum and Pease hardcover record book with pre-numbered pages for my personal journal. But 300 pages wouldn’t even allow one page per day, for an entire year, so it wouldn't really work for the multi-year journal idea.
One of my aptitudes is a mind that “sees” graphic pattern making. Since my days of learning to sew as a child, I have always “seen” how pieces fit together. I “see” the fitting of the curved bulbous portion of a shoulder of a shirt sleeve, being assembled into the bodice portion of the garment. And, whether it is in wood-working as I create a bird-house, or fixing something broken, my brain is continually doing “sampling” design solutions. I mean this very literally.... I see in my mind’s eye a piece being installed to the broken object, as a trial fit. Then my brain will adjust it and make the next iteration of a potential repair. It is like seeing an exploded schematic in-motion while the item is assembled. That is frequently what my mind “sees” as I am looking at a problem (or in this case, an opportunity).
As I shopped using my Amazon Prime membership, I saw that they had a 500 page version of this notebook. It had these important (to me) features:
- Inexpensive (under $25.00) with good thickness of paper
- Pre-numbered lined pages (in this case 512)
- It was sewn, not glued, with a hard cover durable binding
- Big enough for writing easily, (a little larger than a my favored sized composition book)
- Hard cover, provide a good writing surface
- It laid flat when opened
This was a golden opportunity to me! I could actually create a multiple year journal, and could feasibly have room for an entire decade! How cool was that??!! I mean, from 2020 to 2030, I would have a log of MY important things. At this point in my life, I am tracking garden things. But, what if I had done this in 1990, when my daughter was 3 years old? I would have recorded the important things to MY FAMILY. Or what if I had done as a young bride in 1980? The thought was amazing. That without any real burden, an individual could write a paragraph a day about the events of the day. And it will accumulate over time, to help document and bring reflection about our lives.
So, the Decade Journal was born. I started writing in mine on page 358, December 23, 2019, the first day I had the 500 page record book in my hands.
The Decade Journal is about YOUR LIFE. It is a tool that can be used to improve your life. A tool to capture factual information about the important things that YOU are experiencing. As we go through the blog, I will be adding info about the benefits that accumulate by the very act of composing a succinct paragraph of factual information reviewing your day.
I hope you start. In some way.
It will produce immeasurable benefits in your life, in my opinion.
Whether it is on an app on your phone, or another journal form, just start.
The objective: Recording your life in a single paragraph a day.
About me:
I am Christian semi-retired business owner, mother and wife. I love all dogs, love to grow things, and build or re-purpose. My mantra throughout my entire life has been:
People before things - Function before form - and God before all.I practiced minimalism as a value statement in my life long before the most recent trend of enthusiastic adopters. DOING things has always been more important than HAVING things, in my list of values.
Growing up in a family that earned their income via a real estate and construction business, I have been immersed in small business since grade-school. At 12, I began doing payroll and tax reporting for my family, and didn’t stop for decades. I was licensed for Michigan Real Estate sales at 18, and earned my Real Estate Broker’s license at age 28, as well as holding several other Michigan professional licenses including builder and insurance over my time in Michigan.
After decades of work and training in real estate sales, business contract law, property valuation, the title industry and surveying work, I took a job at a non-profit as Director of Housing, and administered HUD and MSHDA programs in economic development, home ownership, and homelessness. My favorite portion of the work was assisting low-income families to utilize asset-development and micro-business strategies to improve their lives. I developed group training materials for adults and provided individual counseling, working with a small staff of counselors. We provided micro-loans to small businesses, and assisted with developing business plans.
After the 2008 housing bubble burst through the nation (particularly hard in Michigan), and the deaths of my husband, both parents and three brothers, I left Michigan. A new chapter was definitely in order. I became an over-the-road semi-truck driver, and worked for two companies prior to remarrying and we became owner-operators. As a truck-driver, I have traveled from Boston harbor to San Diego, and from Miami to Vancouver. A bucket list of experiences have been my reward, as I have seen this nation from sea to shining sea.
Now, semi-retired, I spend my time divided between Arizona and Texas. I am an avid “grower of things” whether it be garden peas, tree collards, or people!
If you have questions or would like additional input, you are encouraged to email me at: decade.journal@gmail.com
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