To journal or not to journal

It's really odd, I have moments of clarity where I can remember events from my past vividly, and other times when I can't remember what I was doing ten minutes ago. The problem is, that I’m finding more and more often I’m in the latter camp.

People who know me think I have a great memory because I can delve into my past and remember events or thing with such clarity. However, there is usually a trigger that helps me to remember those things. It’s usually music.

I can hear a song or a snippet of music and I can be transported elsewhere in times past. And yet, without those triggers, I’m pretty poor at remembering things.

What concerns me though, is my short term memory these days. It’s so abysmal that I struggle to know what I’ve been up to on any given day. Admittedly, when we’ve spent so much time locked down and having hardly been out or about this year, it’s made it seem as though one day has warped into another and it seems to be like Groundhog Day on a consistent basis.

 With that in mind, I’m considering starting a journal, somewhere to write my thoughts, ideas, insights, plans etc.

 A few times as a teen, I tried to keep a diary, but after about 4-5 days, I stopped doing it as I never could be bothered. And that has stopped me from trying in the past few years.

 However, last summer, after reading a book by Austin Kleon, an artist who also writes, I decided to keep a logbook with daily inputs of work I’ve done with examples of work I’ve completed and ideas for work in them.

I’ve managed to keep this going since I started and have managed to complete each day, even if, on some days, my entry has read, “mentally drained, can’t think of anything, reading a book instead!”

Therefore, as I come to the end of the year, I’m thinking that maybe I’m now ready to do a journal.

Why? Well, to be honest, I often find I think about something, get sidetracked and the next day, I can’t remember what I was thinking about. If I had a journal, I could scribble whatever it was onto the page, and then when I wanted to revisit the idea, I’d only need to look at the page and what I’d written to give me a chance to look at the subject anew.

I’ve been trying look back to the beginning of this year and to be honest, I really can’t remember what I was doing, but when I looked back to the July entries in the logbook, it was easy to remember associated things to the work because my entries acted as memory joggers.

If I started journaling next year, then perhaps I could go back and see what other things I’d been up to and what some of my thought processes were, which may help to keep my memory more alert than it is now.

At various points in my life, I’ve been a voracious note taker and I used to have filled books of thoughts relating the field of business I was in at the time. Sadly, when my marriage broke up and I moved away, I appear to have misplaced them which is a great shame because I used to refer back to them quite a lot.

So maybe, writing a journal may be the way forward from here on in. It might help me to keep track of my life and enable me to refer to and take a fresh look at things. It may be that I could write down vague thoughts and ideas that could lead to different journeys in the future.

The process of writing down my thoughts and ideas may also keep them in my mind as well which would make them more memorable to me as well.

It may also keep me on track with things I want to do on a regular basis. I may get more done. Especially if we ever get our normal lives back in the not too distant future. 

One of those thoughts I have had and written down during this time when we seem to be stuck at home, may become an idea that kickstarts a new challenge once we can get back to doing other things. 

All in all, I think there are probably more pros than cons of doing so.

Or it may just be another thing that I start and after a while drift away from.

We shall see...

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For the love of books!

 For the love of books

Most people who know me always think of me in terms of my love of music.

What many don’t realise is that my love of books and reading is almost as bad. After adding two more books to my collection yesterday and once again realising I have nowhere to put them, other than on my desk, I thought I’d ‘out myself’ as a bookworm.

I love all kinds of books, but my favourites are PMA books – Positive Mental Attitude as they’re known (or laughed at by those who just think it’s American hype).

I first discovered them in the summer of 1990 when I was walking around my local newsagents. A book called ‘The Magic of Thinking Big’ caught my eye, and having purchased it and read it, I was engrossed (I still have two worn-out copies amongst my collection).

A lot of what it said made sense to me and over the years, I’ve bought and read so many of them. Books like ‘What To Say When You Talk To Yourself’ and ‘Tough Times Never Last but Tough People Do’ have helped me through some times of great adversity. 

I read my books with a highlighter pen close by and most of my books have highlighted sentences or paragraphs with ideas and thoughts that seemed relevant to me at the time. It also means I can pick a book up and just read the highlighted parts when I need some wisdom.

I also love a biography or an autobiography. I enjoy reading what makes people tick. It’s rare that I don’t pick up a morsel of a thought that helps me in one way or another.

Fiction wise, David Baldacci and Ken Follett are favourites of mine.

The problem is that my books are taking over – I can’t bear to part with them.  As you can see in these photos, they’re taking over. My bookshelf in the office is full, my wardrobe in the bedroom has books piled on top of it (my TBR’s are at the front – To Be Read).

My office has them in amongst my LPs and on top of cabinets. 

And my bedside cabinet has a pile of books I read from before I go to sleep.

Downstairs, there’s even more. Debz and Niall are avid readers too – so the books I’m showing in the photos, probably only represent around a third of what we have in the house. I also have a 4 drawer filing cabinet in the garage which is pretty much full of books!

I can’t see us not continuing to buy books – if you wonder how I find the time to read them, around 25 years ago, said that you should aim to read for 15 minutes a day. Doing that, you’d read 4-5 books a year. I’ve always read more than that, so it’s never been a problem.

The way I look at it, my Mum taught me to read very early in my life. I could read before I went to school. I’ve always liked to read.

I’m surprised at how many people don’t – there’s a whole world of adventure, emotions, knowledge and advice inside those covers, from people far more erudite than I. And I can learn from their knowledge for as little as a couple of quid. Why wouldn’t I?

And besides, what would have been the point of learning to read, if I didn’t read? It makes no sense to me.

And if you’re thinking to yourself, “for all that reading, you haven’t achieved much.” My answer would be, “Maybe not, but could you imagine where I might have ended up had I not learned what I do know for these writers?”

Feel free to post photos of your book collections. I'm always intrigued by what other people read. If you post photos, can you hashtag them #jmlt - that way I can search and find them easily.

While you're at it, comment below to tell me about your collection of books. I'd love to know what you read. I'm nosey like that!

Until next time...

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