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| Little gems--treasured on my windowsill |
Sorry it’s been so long without a post—this has been a busy month and a half!
So, as I’ve been working on revising my novel, I’ve started keeping a journal from the perspective of my main character, Cara, who has an older autistic brother. And that reminded me how important journals have been in my life from childhood on. Even as an adult, I find that they help me sort out my feelings and mixed emotions about things—and they help me remember things that I treasure.
Which gets me to you.
A heart map like the one we made earlier is one way of representing things that are important to you. But a journal is another. You can use your heart map to get started writing a journal, or you can use your journal to add things to your heart map. Ideas create more ideas!
Today I’m going to encourage you to start writing (and drawing) some of the things that are important to you on a regular basis. I’m encouraging you to keep a journal, if you don’t have one already. You can use a notebook with lines, or one with blank pages if you like to draw as well as write--it's completely up to you. And today I’m going to give you a suggestion for something to put into your journal, if you can’t think of anything right away. Ready? Stay with me, now.
I took the picture below just the other day, when I was walking on the beach.
That sand dollar is TINY—about the size of a dime. I almost didn’t see it. And here’s another picture of something I almost didn’t see: a crocus on a hill, just off the beaten track.
These little gems are all around us, and people walk right past without ever really seeing them.
Sometimes I think people are like that, too. Full of surprises and feelings and experiences that other people don’t notice from day to day. And it makes me wonder if you ever feel that there are things about you that don’t get recognized because everyone is too busy to notice.
Maybe no one knows that you really like to sing, or that you are a great artist. Or maybe no one noticed that your feelings were hurt when your friend forgot to save you a seat at lunch. Maybe people don’t realize that you are the only one who knows how to help your brother calm down after he's had a tantrum. Maybe everyone thinks it’s great that your sister loves to be with you, but you really just need a little time to be by yourself each day. Maybe you dream of being a writer, or an actor, or a marine biologist, and no one suspects it.
What is something unique about you that you think goes unnoticed? Write about it. Draw it. Maybe you want it to stay hidden. But maybe you hope other people will notice. This is similar to the last activity we did, but it focuses more on what you want other people to see in you that seems hidden, or even unappreciated.
In families with special needs kids, it’s easy to feel like someone has overlooked something important about you. It’s like that for everyone at times, but . . . more so with a special sibling.
