Christin Slade

I just got sick of social media.

It seemed a neat idea at first. Watching video snippets of people’s lives. It is fun and interesting to see how people live, and it’s inspiring to catch a glimpse of someone’s morning routine, coffee recipe, or flower garden.

The problem is, the more I watch, the less inspiring I find my own morning routine to be.

“Wow, she has the cutest coffee mug. Love that throw blanket; it looks so warm and cozy and very boho. I would love to have a garden like that.”

Like so many others, it made me discontent with my own blessings — and I didn’t like it.

At one point, I decided I wanted to share pieces of my life on Instagram through video. Maybe I could inspire someone? Or would I only make them feel discontent with their own throw blankets and coffee mugs?

But the time it took to set up, record, edit, and prepare a post was rather substantial — and I wasn’t doing anything fancy or professional. The time investment in that alone was so off-putting, I wanted to do it less and less.

It rarely sparked conversations and no one ever asked questions. I thought sharing “movie clips” of my life would help people connect with me. It didn’t. The hours spent making a 30-second clip resulted in most people scrolling past after 3 seconds, leaving me with nothing in return.

So, I decided it was time to pivot and step deeper into something I actually enjoyed doing for me and if other people were inspired by it, bonus!

I journal almost every day. I freehand lines, paragraphs, and pages of thoughts, prayers, and bible verses. But there is a new kind of journaling that I was interested in. I wanted this to be different. I wanted this journal to capture pieces of my life each week, leaving traces of myself behind in something tangible and tactile.

This is something I don’t want to be a default, but a place to design the life I want to live and become a testimony of living it out.

I’ve entered into the second-half of my life, and it will look very different from the first. I’ve gained so much experience and wisdom that I get to put to use in the days and years ahead. As I continue to learn and grow, I hope to pass on some of that wisdom to others–beginning with my children and grandchildren.

Journaling has always been a love of mine. I’ve done various types of journaling. One kind I learned years ago when I happened upon Ann Voskamp’s blog when she was writing a series on it. She opened my eyes to a whole new way of journaling, and I used it for several years.

This time, I dreamt up an idea, and I’m running with it.

I searched and searched for the type of journaling I had in mind, but couldn’t find anything quite like it. I found bullet journaling, junk journaling, art journaling, travel journaling, pocket journaling, and several other amazing journaling methods.

What I wanted was a bit of a mix between them because I want it to inspire, trace, and reflect my everyday life, not just specific categories of it.

A Life Journal.

That’s it. That’s what encompasses all I want in this journal: my life. Simple. A Life Journal.

I have no idea yet what it’s going to look like, though I have a good idea of where I want to start.

I want to create a keepsake that tracks bits and pieces of my life, God’s faithfulness, and moments I share with others. I didn’t realize how easy it would be to forget as time goes on. In the moment, I trust I won’t forget, but later, reality tells me otherwise.

So, this is the beginning of my Life Journal Project. I’ve already titled my first journal. It gives me an area I want to focus on throughout the duration of filling the journal.

The journals I get are from Archer & Olive (affiliate link). They are beautiful, excellent quality, and, like me, believe in the power of creativity.

With the rise of AI and social media becoming more and more fake and less and less trustworthy (stealing people’s art and reproducing it), I thought it was time to take a step back and appreciate the analog life again.

For August, I’m focusing on the word Savor.

I chose it because, along with awaking wonder, I want to savor the moments God has placed in front of me that I often miss because I am too busy or too distracted. I want to look past my circumstances and see the beauty of the life in front of me and the God who never leaves.

I share some of these moments written as mini-devotions for women here.

I am looking forward to embarking on this journey right here. If you’re interested in following my Life Journal Project and you aren’t subscribed, you can do that here. Who knows, maybe I’ll inspire you to create your own!

Love,

Christin

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