February 23, 2010....The last day of my last blog entry. That is pretty bad, even for me. Most of you don't know, but I teach the 16-18 year old girls at church and this Sunday's lesson is....JOURNALS! Yup, something I'm not very good at doing. I was doing ok with the blog, which I consider somewhat as a journal, but I haven't been doing very well have I? In my lesson it doesn't say anything about online journal options, and I think when we are talking about underage girls, that's probably a good thing, but I did want to bring up the option of a personal blog as a journal. For them I would stress the importance of keeping it totally private from anyone, but I thought I would get input from all you online bloggers about your thoughts and ideas about blogging or journaling and how it has been a blessing in your life.
I'm definitely grateful...even though I haven't shown it in the last couple of months...for blogs and how not only we can reconnect with people but how we can use it to look back on our day, week, or month and remember things in greater detail than we would normally if we hadn't written our thoughts and feelings down. I don't like making commitments that I don't think I will keep, but I need to make a commitment to myself to be better at writing in my journal and on my blog.
My daughter Kelsi, who btw is a Laurel, is GREAT about keeping a journal (definitely an inspiration to me). But recently she started a blog. Of course she doesn't share her most personal entries there but, as her mother, I have been totally impressed. I think any family and/or friend who reads it will be likewise impressed and inspired. She is cute and witty and funny and there are pictures to accompany her words which she doesn't get with a handwritten journal as easily. I even think it could be used as a missionary tool. (you can go to my blog and click on her link if you want to check it out)
ReplyDeleteAs for my own blog, it is without price in my book. I am not as regular as I would like to be, but I WILL actually do it sometimes, which is better than doing nothing. Just yesterday I was re-reading some old entries and they totally inspired me. I would DEFINITELY mention this as one form of journal keeping in your lesson.
First of all, I have missed your blogging! :) It's one of my favorites to follow so hopefully that is a boost to make you want to blog... to make me happy! :)
ReplyDeleteI have never been good at journaling. I have old journals but would write in them once every few months. But atleast I did that because they can be fun to look back on and I think my kids will like them. But that was exactly the reason I started our blog, was to keep a family journal of sorts. I loved the idea of posting big things as well as more day to day events that we would not remember in 10 years. My goal is to print one for each calendar year. I am currently (and so slowly since I became sick) editing it to put into a book through blurb.com. As I'm reading back on things I wrote a year ago I'm surprised at how quickly I had already forgotten about some things. So that made me very grateful I'm doing this. Then the other day I thought how fantastic it would be if my mom had done this when we were kids and I could read it now. What an insight it would be to how life was like for us, especially when you were super young and couldn't remember like my kids are now. But my mom doesn't journal at all, so that would've been a treat. And of course I LOVE reading other people's blogs. What a fantastic way for all of us busy people to see what's going on in our friend's and family's lives. I love it that my family all over the US can see how we are and the cute things my girls are up to.
Also, if you didn't know about it already you could let them know about ldsjournals.com. The hardest part of journaling for me is writing takes so much time! But I occasionally will journal on there and it's completely private with password and you can type your journal entries. It just takes a few minutes for an entry! Then it only costs like $20 to print a book off when you're ready. I love that option.
Anyways, hope you get some good insight from everyone. I bet you're such a fantastic teacher!! Do you get to go to Girl's Camp? I love that! Keep posting!! :)
One thing I love about blogging that I am planning on doing is submitting your blog (you can choose the posts) to a company and they make it into a book. My friend has done it every year and chooses the more important posts she wrote throughout the year. The book includes all of your text in the posts and some pictures (of your choosing). So blogging can work as both an online journal and then you can turn it into a printed journal. I wish I could remember the name of the company my friend uses. I'll ask her and let you know if you are interested.
ReplyDeleteWhen I taught this lesson we talked about blogging. Most of the women in the ward seem to have a blog and even if they don't they get on a read the ones that do. We focused on how a blog is more of a family journal instead of a personal one and we discussed the importance of having both. It was a great lesson and the girls LOVE journaling so like most lessons I got more from their participation and feedback then I think they got from me.
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