Journaling my way to free.

You all, I finished an entire journal.  Start to finish, beginning to end.  Front cover to back.  Within the time span of a year!  I have started many, many journals and I seem to unearth them a few times a year underneath the piles in my craft room.  Remnants of the past strewn about the pages, but too many blank pages left at the end to count.  Never finished. 

Then something shifted last year.  Our little one moved on to a new foster care home and there were more thoughts and feelings than I knew what to do with.  Where little feet padded constantly, silence. So I took to journaling.  I don't remember exactly what kept me coming back to the pages, even after the ache lessened from missing our little one.  (note: lessened, never gone) But for some reason I kept putting pen to paper and over the course of several months I noticed the weight journaling relieved.  Being able to articulate what was going on in my head and heart and then leave it there on the lines and close the book felt, for lack of a better word, freeing.  It hasn't just been the hard things of life I've journaled.  It's also been the joys, the God moments, the answered prayers, and times when I truly noticed the rosy in my routine.  Things that have never made it to the blog and most likely never will.  Perhaps I'll mine through my journals someday to write that book I've always talked about writing.  But mostly?  This is for me.  I no longer find myself writing "journal" on my to-do list because someone else thought it was a good idea to do and said so on their blog but because journaling has become such a healthy release for me. 

Now I am the one on the blog telling you to try journaling! 

**This photo was taken during my 2 week stint of trying to have pretty, grown-up nails.  Between working outside, painting, and just my daily life, it didn't last.  Maybe I'll try again soon. lol**