Antiquaria Journal Club | Week Thirty-Six

Journal Gang! Hey there. Thank you for dropping by to check out this week’s prompt! How is your journaling going lately? Bailey just started a new book (yay!) and Sarah has been experimenting with paint again on the mixed media paper Midori journal insert. It’s definitely felt really good to be revisiting leaning into a quiet creative mode when the world feels a little too..much. Which can happen rather often these days!

How did the mood journaling go for you, were you able to give it a try? If so, we hope it was fun, insightful and a bit cathartic. It’s always interesting to see how moods and feelings will manifest in a visual way. The end result can be a useful gauge as an honest self check-in. 

Speaking of check-ins, we are halfway through this crazy year. What. Even. Is. This. Year!? It’s been a topsy-turvy ride, that’s for sure. This realization had us thinking back to December, January, even February, and how much things have changed. Specifically, thinking back on some of our earliest prompts and the perspective we were holding at that time. When we crafted our intention lists for 2020, so many things we not even on the radar at that time, for better and worse, and so many circumstances have shifted. Curious, we wanted to refer back to that list. Which intentions do we still hold? Which are still possible, or even priorities at all? Which ones have we accomplished so far? Maybe some of them aged like wine, and maybe some aged like milk. (Travel more...yeah, right!) But that’s life! We can’t predict the future, and this year has been a blunt reminder of that fact.

So what do we do when things don’t go according to plan? The best we can with what we have, where we are, one day at a time. Learn, stay informed, speak up, work hard, take care of ourselves and try to be excellent to one another. Always retain a base of positivity (even if we tend to cope with cynical humor at times, ha!)

Refer back to your list of intent for this year, and see how it’s changed. See what you’ve been able to accomplish despite one of the most collectively stressful times in decades. You could even make a revised list for the rest of the year, with a ‘new normal’ in mind. What things have you accomplished that you are proud of this year? Even if it’s “waking up each day”, give yourself some kudos for keepin’ on keepin’ on throughout this whole deal. Because you’re doing great.

Happy Journaling! 

xoxo

The Antiquaria Team 

Antiquaria Journal Club | Week Thirty-Two

Hey Journal Gang,

How was your Father’s Day?? (It feels like it was seriously just Mother’s Day!) Whether you have an awesome dad, know an awesome dad or are an awesome dad, we hope you were able to enjoy a relaxing weekend together with your people! Dads are golden. It’s always fun scrolling instagram and seeing everyone’s ‘old school cool’ photos with their Daddios. Mustaches abound!

Do you get the feeling that this Summer is going to go by as a blur? It sure seems that way…time seemed to slow during the shutdowns, but as the world begins to reopen and we try to find our way around a ‘new normal’, the pace has seemed to quicken again. The Solstice was this past Saturday, the very longest day of the year! The first day of Summer. It’s prime time for evening gardening and we took advantage of it this weekend. There is something so meditative about enjoying dusk outdoors in the summertime. One of the very best aspects of the season.

It has us thinking about the nature of life, rhythms and cycles. What would life be like with no change in the seasons, no visitation from both the sun and the moon, no moments of contentment and sadness alike? To our very core we are connected to the ups and downs all around us.

This year has been chock full of highs and lows both, and leeet’s be honest…many lows on the 2020 spectrum so far. But it’s important to seek out balance and, in turn, find more appreciation for the upswings when they appear. It’s ok to have low points and days of struggling. We sure have them. Everyone does! And it’s ok to be an uncertain hanging-out-somewhere-in-the-middle mixture, trying to navigate through it all.

This week take note of not only your most pleasant thoughts and moments, but some of the times you struggled with as well. We can learn from the dips just as we can find comfort in the crests; recording both can help us see patterns and make connections between actions and emotions. Feeling stressed, overwhelmed or having a mini existential crisis? Take a break from the news!! (It will be there when you come back - promise). Cranky and tired? Take a bath and make a plan to prioritize your sleep that evening. Did you laugh hard at something today? Who were you with and what was funny? Take note to remember the moment. Bake some banana bread and it was the bomb? Share a few pieces with a friend! Have a smooth, productive day at work? Tell yourself, “you did good, kid” and reflect on what went well.

The sweet and salty moments both have things to offer. There may be no ultimate perfect day - but there are plenty of pretty darn good ones.

Hope you all have a great week!

Happy Journaling,
xoxo
The Antiquaria Team