Let’s admit it. Summer always goes by so fast. One day you’re looking forward to planting flowers, playing softball and warm summer mornings. The next day you’re putting your kids on the bus, pulling out your fall decorations and making plans for the winter. Where did the summer go?? This year I decided to test out a theory. I wanted to see if I could change how I felt about at the end of my summer. So I decided that I would journal all 95 days of summer. In one word I would describe it as, enlightening. Below are the 10 top things I learned.
- You don’t complain nearly as much that the summer went by too fast
When you are committed to finding three things you are grateful for, you acknowledge everything that happened that day. Therefore preventing any one day from slipping away. Even the boring days. - You realize that you did a TON over 95 days
95 days is a long time. It never felt like it before, but it was. I used to complain that I didn’t do enough with the kids or my wife. I didn’t take them to the pool enough or play outside…have fires…etc. Looking back at 95 days, I realized we had an abundance of amazing things happen this summer. - You learn to enjoy boring days
Keeping track of every day means that eventually you’ll have a boring day. A day with nothing going on. On those days I found myself struggling to find something I was grateful for. But nonetheless, I always found something. On those days, I found that I was grateful for the small details. The things you often overlook. Books you haven’t finished, board games you haven’t played, water running through your facets, your kids, wife…etc. - Journaling keeps track of where you came from
We all have era’s of our life that we aren’t proud of. Things we’ve done that we wish we could take back. But we fail to learn from them, because we forget all the little things we did to get through them. Our thought process. Our habits. The friends we reached out to. Journaling through these moments and reflecting on them months later reminds you just how far you’ve come. It is a tangible reminder that you have made it through another life challenge. - Journaling ever day is the perfect way to discipline yourself
Writing three things a day is not that difficult. Especially once you get into a rhythm. Yes, there were days here and there where I had to go back and fill in some gaps. But the point is that I did it. If you don’t accomplish anything else that day, you accomplished writing in your journal. Some days you’ll have a lot to say and others you’ll write the minimum. - It forces you to absorb each moment, to pay attention to the details of the day
Taking your kids to the park, to the pool, backyard, soccer — no matter what it is, it’s easier to pay attention to the moment. You pay attention to things like: how your daughter kicks, how hot it was at the pool, how tall your grass was and you remember it like it was yesterday. It helps you stop and smell the roses. - It doesn’t let you fast forward through life
It’s very difficult to go a day missing something big or small that happened when you’re writing an account of that day. We went to the pool in our neighborhood over twenty times this summer. But if I hadn’t written it down, I would have looked back and thought we went maybe a handful. In the past these things would depress me. But why? Because our mind has a way of organizing these moments into less than what it really was. - You realize life isn’t as short as you think it is
This is an amazing realization. How many times do we say, “Life is too short”. But in reality, there is soo much to be enjoyed and to absorb. Don’t let a moment go by. Life in many ways would be so much longer if we were more present in the moment. This summer was 95 days and it felt incredibly long after completing each and every day. - It’s the perfect way to track goals
While you’re journaling, why not track some goals. This summer I tracked my weightloss (and weight gain). I tracked miles ran. Debt paid. Early mornings I’ve woken up and so much more. - Most importantly, you can pass it on to your kids
I don’t know about you, but I love reading old journals/notes from family. Especially poems my mom wrote, songs my dad put together. It puts me into their frame of mind. Sample a small part of who they were growing up. I would love to share an account of things I did with my kids, goals I achieved, times we went to the pool that summer. When I’m old and gray, I want to look back on my life and be able to relive these moments with my kids. Share my memories with them. Show them dad’s side of the story. Because one day, they’re going to want to look back and relive those moments too.
I’ve journaled for much of my life in spurts here and there. But never consecutively. But it meant a lot to me to complete a summer of journaling. I have learned a lot about myself and realized that life is so much more grand than we ever thought.
A tip: Because it’s almost 2020, digital is the future. But because I prefer to journal with a pen, and I love the idea of things like Facebook memories and Timehop, I decided to take pictures of each of my entries and post them in a digital app called Day One. This also let’s me combine pictures with my journal entries. So next summer when I open my journal app, it can remind me on all the awesome little things that happened the summer of 2019.
Hope you found this article useful and it encourages you to live life every day to the fullest.
Chris
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