As we go through life we have experiences that teach us, hurt us, bring us joy, help us grow, and shape us into the person we are. But if we don’t take the time to stop and write down those experiences and what we learned from them we are limiting their impact to only impact us…we limit their ability to teach our children and grandchildren and countless others. I don’t know about you, but I would hate to think that I went through all the hard things I went through only to have them help just me! Heck, I didn’t endure all the bumps and bruises just so I could benefit from them…I want as many people as possible to benefit from my mistakes and my trials…maybe because the thought of having them help others helps me endure them a little easier when they happen.

I was never a good journal keeper growing up. I hated taking the time to stop and write things down. I was always focused on the future and I didn’t want to dwell on the past. But as I have raised my children to become adults I now see them going through things I went through at their age and even though I can tell them my stories now, they are nowhere near as powerful as if I could let them read my story in my own words that were written when I was their same age. For whatever reason it is easier for kids to accept the advice of those their same age over an adult but when they can hear it from you when you actually were their age it will carry far more weight with them. And so I regret not keeping a better journal back then for that very reason.

In 2010 I began writing a blog five days a week and I have continued to write five days a week every week since 2010. I try to share things I am learning and things that inspire or help me as well as lessons I am learning along the way. One of my hopes is that someday my own posterity will read it and it will allow them to learn from my experience. Wouldn’t it be amazing to watch from the heavens after you have left this life and see your posterity find value in reading your journals? It’s all about helping others through your own experience and story.

“Get a notebook, a journal that will last through all time, and maybe the angels may quote from it for eternity. Begin today and write in it your goings and comings, your deepest thoughts, your achievements and your failures, your associations and your triumphs, your impressions and your testimonies.” – Spencer Kimball

I challenge everyone to write in a journal. Even if its only once a week at first or just when something special happens or you go through a life lesson…the key is to start somewhere….and after five years of never missing a day I can tell you that I now have a testimony of my own of the importance of journals, and I would guess anyone else who keeps one will gain that same testimony.

Have a FANTASTIC DAY!

~Amy