Big Idea Festival Challenge 6: Get Real

Cathy Zielske challenges us to 'get real'. To scrapbook a story from our real life. Often scrapbooks are filled of those one perfect shots that we managed to take on a sunny day, while the river was still, when the kids were all smiling and these are great and represent the fun, joy and excitement of the day but maybe we should also reflect on the other aspects in life. This doesn't necessarily mean been all doom and gloomy about your darkest deepest secrets but it does mean being a bit more open with your journaling. Being more vulnerable and being honest with what our real life is about. My scrapbooking consists of cute pets, great holidays and family portrait photos. This challenge made me have to think about my life as a whole right now and consider what are the things that are going on in my life. What is my current work, home, family situation and how do I feel about it. What things are currently weighing on my mind. 

With that exact thought I realised that my physical weight, and my battle with it, is and for a long time has been a big part of my life, lifestyle and life choices which effects my day to day life. I seem to be in a constant battle with my weight. One week I lose 3 pounds the next I gain 1 and a half the next I lose 2 leaving me pretty much where I started in the first place. I find it very frustrating and although my weight restricts my lifestyle so does trying to lose weight. This is the first time I've scrapbooked about it and at first it was all very negative about how unhappy I am, that the changes just don't happen, that it's restricting my life. I didn't want a negative page in my scrapbook. I was happy to share the events across the spectrum of good and bad but felt I needed some positivity injecting into it. This is why around the edge of the page i have put positive words as well as words that reflect the reality of the challenge. No pain no gain is very true it takes a lot of hard work and determination to succeed. Strength was an interesting word to use. Both the physical strength I need to build up but also the mental strength to keep focused. Try the challenge, express how you feel about your daily real life challenges and see what you can get out of it. You may find it therapeutic to get it all down on paper, to let it all out so you can look at it and then start to work on it.