Creating and completing your scrapbook can be therapeutic, relaxing, or exciting. I know I get really excited to see a finished scrapbook page turn out more perfect than I imagined. But if you’re like me you may have a cache of layouts that are 99% finished and just need journaling to be truly complete.

You may have left space planning to come back later. Or perhaps you didn’t want more than a title, at least for now. Somehow, we don’t seem to get back to the journaling, do we? We need to stop adding to that cache of unfinished layouts. We need to understand that words often help truly finish our scrapbook layouts. The story (not just a date & title) is key to helping remember all the important details about the photos and mementos we’ve added to a page.

This is a common, and often quite personal, struggle among both traditional & digital scrapbookers that I don’t see talked about often enough. This phenomenon of stopping just short of the finish reflects something deeper: Anxiety. What I tend to see most often is anxiety about choosing the right words & anxiety about putting personal details out there for anyone to see.

Storytelling anxieties can be a manifestation of an underlying perfectionism. This can also crop up when designing the page’s layout or as a feeling of general unease about including a lot of details. Life can get messy; all of our stories aren’t “pretty”. And the deeply personal nature of scrapbooking only intensifies a need for our projects to be blemish-free.

I’ve been fighting against this kind of anxiety since I became a scrapbooker and one of my best tips on conquering this issue can be found in this post.

If you’ve never added much more than a title to your scrapbook layouts, adding stories and other information may seem a bit scary. What if I ruin the whole page? The beauty is that if you make a mistake, you can generally easily fix it. If you’re a traditional scrapper you can cover it up by adding more paper or embellishments to the layout. If you’re a digital scrapper its typically so much easier to fix mistakes…we have the “undo” button 😊

So how to conquer some of the anxiety? Read on…

Wondering What To Say?

When I first started scrapbooking as an adult, I often only included the 3 Ws of journaling: When, Who, Where. When I did “tell a story”, it would be short. Truth be told, most often too short. I’d get edgy about putting to much of my personal thoughts & feelings down “on paper”. That would make it too easy for others to know perhaps a bit more about me than I’d like.

I’m certain this will come as a surprise to you but I tend to be a rather private person. I know…that sounds odd coming from someone who keeps a blog, right?!? But even with that, I think writing too much back then, (and still today) made me feel vulnerable.

Even though I now spend a lot of time writing, I know how frustrating it can feel to be unsure of what to say. Keeping this blog has actually helped. Today I consciously work to embrace the beauty of my journaling just as it comes out, and to intentionally see imperfection and recognize its value.

The beauty in imperfection, impermanence, and the natural world encourages us to embrace and appreciate the flaws and irregularities in life; finding value in simplicity and the ordinary. Once I started to embrace imperfection, finding the beauty in it resonated deeply with me, particularly as someone who spent the entirety of my career in the IT field where there is virtually no place for imperfection.

Acknowledging that you have anxiety about scrapbook journaling and all its imperfections is a simple and healthy first step. Today, I’m going to offer you my #1 journaling tip…

Ask Yourself Questions

When scrapbooking your photos, the following questions may help you discover the story that is just waiting to be told.

What Happened?

Sometimes just sitting and thinking about what made you take the photo(s) will help you come up with a few more words than just when & where.

What Feelings?

Look at the photo(s) and try to remember the feeling you had right before you took the shot(s). Were you silly, excited, lonely, festive, or perhaps calm? Give some thought to the emotions surrounding the photo(s). Adding them to the story could bring some context to your layout.

What Will Others Want/Need To know?

Scrapbooking is all about preserving memories for future generations. Think about the photo(s) on this layout and what others will want to understand. There may be something they can learn from your story.

Memories Of The Past?

Is there anything about the photo(s) that makes you think of another moment from the past? Perhaps it may be worth recording that memory as part of this layout.

What Traditions?

Is there something in the photo(s) that is connected to a family or cultural tradition? Writing about that tradition could be very important to future generations. Afterall, preserving our traditions is part of why we scrapbook!

People Or Event?

Is there more to the photo(s) than what meets the eye? Perhaps the layout is more about the people than the event. Photos from a retirement party might need a bit more story than just the words “Happy Retirement”!

Past Or Future Connection?

Did this moment reveal some kind of connection to the past or perhaps a hope for the future? Photos from a child’s baptism could certainly evoke some emotions about the past or future. Don’t be afraid to document those feelings!

Inspirational?

Are the photo(s) connected to some inspirational event or moment? What did this moment inspire in you? Perhaps seeing the photo(s) from a prior vacation is inspiring ideas of another trip…maybe to a different place.

Was the moment filled with more than one feeling or thought-provoking instance? Did you walk away from this moment just bursting with feelings? It might be worth recording those feelings in this layout.

Sometimes it’s hard to express all of that with the photo(s)…you have to tell the story!

Relevancy?

Are you documenting a current event either in the world or specific to your family? Talk about why it was relevant to capture this event at this particular time. Remember 2020? I bet we all have a lot of things we could write about related to that year. Am I right?

Fly On The Wall?

What would your story of the photo(s) be if you were a fly on the wall? Changing your perspective can often generate your “more to the story” words!

Change The Moment?

If you could relive the moment captured in the photo(s) is there something you would change? If so, why? If not, why? As I write this, I think about how I should ask myself this very question more often! It certainly would inspire me to add more to my story.

Honoring The Memory?

Essentially a scrapbook is just one big visual element allowing you to illustrate and bring life to your memories. You want to create layouts that enhance these stories for friends, family members, and even future generations to appreciate years from now.

One thing I’ve found helpful is to approach every page as a space to tell one small story. Even if the overarching story of your scrapbook is a long one (for example, your baby’s first year or a year studying abroad) choose a small, bite-sized portion of your story to focus on for each layout. This will help you stay focused and preserve those precious memories.

Additional Thoughts On Journaling

Once you start adding meaningful writing to your scrapbook you will wonder why you didn’t start sooner.

The more you write the more you will understand your style and the way your words flow onto the page.

Start writing about things you know about. As you write your brain will remember more and more details. Over time some of these details will be forgotten, looking back over your scrapbooks in the future you will be very glad you wrote down as many details as you could remember.

Other people viewing your scrapbook will also be thankful you recorded so much, if they weren’t at a particular event or didn’t know an old relative. They will enjoy getting to know more about different aspects of theirs and your past.

Pretending to write a letter to a friend can help take the pressure out of writing down your thoughts, memories, and feelings. Write as though you are chatting to a close friend.

According to research, journaling may help ease our distress when we’re struggling. People who journal tend to see the biggest reduction in symptoms like depression, anxiety, and hostility, particularly if they were very distressed to begin with.

There’s a great online resource “Beginners Guide To Writing” that might help you develop a better writing habit.

Remember…if you’re struggling to add words straight after completing your layout, don’t worry. Leave space on your page so you can come back later and add your story once you’ve had time to get your thoughts in order. Just make a promise to yourself that you will come back!

As always, if you have any questions or want to make a suggestion about a topic you’d like me to cover, please don’t ever hesitate to “Message Me”.

Thanks for reading this week’s Tuesday Tip. If you want to stay informed about new posts, just click “Follow Me” to stay in touch. I hope you have a wonderful week!