(Page above is the title page from one of my many Library of Memories albums.)
As I've been working on the content for Me: the Abridged Version (launching to the online world in September), one of the things I had to do for the class was make a 28-page album that was, in essence, all about me.
Now maybe it's because I haven't been scrapbooking a ton about me lately, but the album itself came together in a snap. It felt inspired, as if my scrapbook mojo had been missing out on telling my own story. And I realized it had.
I remember when I first started making pages about myself… it seems like only 2002 when I made this layout below:
(click on layout to see larger)
It seems like 2002 because duh, it WAS 2002. Back in the day at Two Peas, when people started posting their all about me pages. I couldn't get enough!
(I also couldn't get enough of this series of photos, evidently. But I'll be damned if I don't recognize a cute shot of myself when I see it.)
I couldn't get enough of the All About Me page because I relished the chance to tell a story about me, just as I'd done for years and years on the pages of my old journals.
I loved the way I could take those words, pair them with a photo, package them up into a tight, cohesive design and say, "Voila. Here's my story."
From what I'd tell my much younger self with the benefit of hindsight, to documenting the ever-changing styles of a girl who placed far too much of her self-esteem on hair, scrapbooking gave me the much needed outlet not just to feel crafty, but to provide a forum for a voice that needed to be heard.
I have as many pages about me as I do about anything else in my collection. Is it selfish? Or narcissistic? Or worse, a waste of time?
I would argue to say on some level, it's selfish to NOT tell your part of the story; to not let a little light shine on how you fit into the grand scheme of this life you so carefully and lovingly document.
The best part is that it doesn't have to be a huge undertaking. It's really not that hard at all.
Sometimes, it's about small stories of success.
And sometimes, stories of decidedly less success.
Sometimes, it's just simple and random stories from the everyday.
Or a very specific story of the one particular thing that makes you tick.
In the end, these stories have the opportunity to be about you. Well, I mean me…and you. These stories can capture a slice of this human existence that no matter which way you look at it, it's wholly and uniquely your own.
What's the last thing you scrapbooked about you? If you can't quite easily recall, maybe it's time to give yourself a chance to work a bit more closely with the material.
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