My dear grandmother, bless her heart, was a know-it-all. She was never wrong. Ever. The classic story my father will tell you is about the time she insisted she knew where a street was and my father disagreed with her. To settle the argument he pulled out a map to prove he was right, which according to the map he was right… but did my grandmother concede that she was wrong? Not a chance. To her, it was obvious the map was wrong! Yep. that was my grandmother.
My mother is a different kind of know-it-all. Arguments with her about something that happened in the past are easy to resolve because to prove that she is correct (or wrong) all she has to do is dig through her years of calendars to see when a past event took place. It’s actually kind of fun to look back with her to see what we were doing five, ten or twenty years ago.
In the past I have tried to keep a journal, but find I just don’t really have the time to keep up with it on a daily basis. It seems that when I have journaled in the past it has been to get me through a dark or stressful time in my life – keeping a journal is something I highly recommend to relieve stress and help you work through tough times.
Last week I saw a post by Ashley over at Little Blue Boo, one of my favorite creative bloggers. She shared that she writes in a Five Year Journal. What caught my attention is that there’s just enough space for a sentence or two each day…
Each page has a place for something about this day for the next five years. I think it’s brilliant. Of course, I ordered one from Amazon immediately…
So far I’ve written about having my grandmother’s beautiful 78-year-old baby grand piano delivered to my house and Les Miserable with a friend last Friday, playing Rummy-O (my new favorite game) with my parents on Saturday night while my husband was fishing in Cumberland and what I gave to my son’s finance tonight to help with her ulcer – rejuvelac, aloe vera juice, licorice capsules and bromelain.
Another option for this 5 year journal would be to use it as a daily gratitude book. If you’re in a bit of a funk or even a huge funk – every night before you go to bed write down three things about the day that you are grateful for. Do it for a week and I promise it will make you feel better. It’s like one big hug from the universe and is a sure-fire way to pick your spirits up. Even on the worst of days you’ll find you have something to be grateful for… the stranger that held the door for you at the store or just the fact that you survived the day.
Personally, I can’t wait to pull this book out five years from now and reflect on what I was doing in 2013… who knows, maybe one day I’ll use it to prove to my kids that I was right about something 
xo Amy
