Project Life: Dealing with Loss
I've been neglecting to share my Project Life for the last few months. A tragedy struck our family as my younger cousin died at the beginning of April. His death, while a shock, was part of an ongoing struggle; both for him and for everyone that loved him.
Because my Project Life is so personal, I needed a small break from documenting and then an even larger break from sharing with everyone. Today, I'm ready to start sharing again, and I'm going to start by tackling my biggest hurdle: Dealing with Loss in Project Life.
There are many of times in our lives where bad things happen -- fights, accidents, illness -- and we can choose to kind of glance over those in our PL albums. But every once in a while, life hands us a tragedy that works its way into every aspect of our lives.
Because of its all consuming nature, there was no way to leave Jimmy's death out of Project Life, I just wasn't sure how to go about documenting it in a way that was both respectful to him, and respectful to the album that I've been working on.
Here is the two page spread of the week:
I learned a lot while putting together this week's spread.
- Big pockets let me create a 'big' picture for the week, where the smaller pockets on the right let me put in some quotes and memorabilia, and a couple of 'little' things that happened during the week.
- I wanted to write A LOT, it was incredibly therapeutic to get everything out on paper. So I wrote Jimmy a letter, it wound up being about 3 pages, which I folded up and stuck behind the square with his name.
- There were a couple of things that helped brighten the week: A new haircut, a big coke, an ice cream date with another cousin, and I thought it was very important to include them because even though the entire week had this theme of sadness and despair; they show that even in the darkest hour, we have things that help us get through the day.
As I mentioned above, Project Life is very personal for me. Remembering that this was my book, and I could choose to remember things how I wanted to was a very powerful tool. I had so much to say, but I wasn't really sure if I wanted anyone else to see it -- or if I even wanted to see it every time I opened the book. The hidden journaling was the perfect solution. I can see that its there, and if I want to read it -- or if I want to let others read it sometime in the future, that option is available. And if not, those words and feelings are tucked safely away for whatever the future holds.
Thank you so much for taking the time to visit and read my thoughts on dealing with loss in your Project Life album. I'm sure that this approach isn't going to work for everyone, but my hopes are that it will help people know that you can respectfully approach loss in your album, while still staying true to yourself and the album you've been creating.
Lots of love,
Kristin
PS -- if anyone is ever going through a similar situation and needs someone to talk to, please, please, please feel free to talk to me -- my contact info is all on the right hand side of the blog. It doesn't matter if we've never talked before, I'm always open to helping those in need. :)
