September 01, 2021
Storytime | Telling Hard Stories + The Chronological Question
A couple weeks ago I started a new, sporadic series over on YouTube called Storytime.
The goal with this series is to take questions from the community about the ins + outs of telling our stories using scrapbooking/memory keeping as our method. You can check out the first video in this series here on my blog (already shared a few weeks back).
Today I wanted to share the next two videos in the series and archive them here on the blog (as well as living over on YouTube).
Let's dive in:
Great video Ali. I find that I have to write stories as they occur; doesn't matter if I have photos or not, but if I wait then I tend to forget and I really want to capture some stories in the moment. I can't jot down snippets and think I'll write it later because I forget most of the details that were important to me at the time. (Hope that makes sense.)
I'm looking forward to more Storytime videos, as I'm finding them most interesting.
Have a wonderful day!
Awesome! It's so much about figuring out what works for you!
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Hi Ali: I would like to write and scrap about the Journey I took when my 14 year old son was diagnosed with Terminal Cancer Rhabdomyossrcoma. I am not sure how to begin as he passed August 2,2014. I have ADD and struggle with staying on topic. How would you break the 4 year journey down.
Lynne1 - I'm so sorry for the loss of your son. I think what I would do is start a file on my computer/phone/Notes app and simply start recording pieces of the story as they come to me in different seasons. Let go of the expectation that you would sit down + write it all out in one go (that's totally something you can do but don't get discouraged if that just doesn't work for you). Telling a story like the one you are asking about might take years to write and that's okay. Capture pieces when they come to you - invite yourself to write down the memories as they come to you in random moments. Over time you will have a variety of pieces of the story collected that you can then save in a way that's meaningful to you. This is honestly what I'm doing with stories about my divorce - right now I'm simply collecting pieces of the story.
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This is a very current topic I've been thinking about. My husband is in the early stages of what is likely early onset dementia. We have a teenage son and just returned from a very challenging family "vacation." Has me thinking about how to document it. Husband thought it was a great trip, kiddo & I have very mixed feelings. We did see some beautiful areas that we hadn't spent time at before, but I can't shake that feeling of it not feeling authentic if I only document the pretty stuff, as I did on social media, at husband's insistence. Your comments have me thinking that maybe I can make a pretty book that husband can enjoy now, but keep separate notes that are just for me that document my feelings about the challenges during that trip and my realization that this was very possibly our last family vacation.
Lots of love to you Deb. I think writing about that may be a very wholehearted way to deal with your own grief.
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This so needed to be shared! I bought the "Tough/Hard Days" stamp set a while back to use for my son's TaeKwonDo album, but now we have a health issue to record. I'd love to find some layout examples using this stamp set, but I haven't been able to locate any yet. Any suggestions?
Thanks for this video series! I've been watching and taking notes!!
-Rhonda H
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Dear Ali, love your video on telling the hard stories. Your recommendations on having a diary leads me to the question "what to do with your old diaries?". I started writing diaries at the age of 13 and it has helped me a great deal in my life. I am now 55 and must have over 70? books stacked away. I am not sure if I want my daughter to read all of it unfiltered at some stage (I would not have wanted to read everything about my mum), there are a lot of harder stories in it, of course. So maybe scrapbook/rewrite some of these stories in various years and put the rest in the trash? What are your thoughts on this?
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