WHY I LOVE MY SCRAPBOOK (and you should get one too)
During the week-long purgatory that is post-Christmas but pre-New Year’s Eve, I, like most people, tend to get reflective. I go through my camera roll, I start thinking about what I did that year, I look back at my GOALS note on my notes app to see the ideals I had a year prior, and I begin to think about what I want my next year to look like.
I decided that I want 2024 to be a year where I create more. I want this to be the year that I am more present in the world and doing tangible things, rather than in a digital space. I am not an artist, a writer, or a photographer, but I like to dabble in all of these art forms and also have a fondness for collage. Putting all these creative outlets together, I decided to embark on a new hobby for 2024: scrapbooking. And I quickly became a telemarketer for it.
I have fervently been collecting scraps of paper, writing down ideas, collecting quotes, and printing pictures to put into my little baby: my mind on paper. Everything I put down in my notes app gets slapped onto a page in a fun font, and every book I’ve read gets a lengthy review and a page spread. I say yes to receipts now, to see if they have a fun graphic on them (I have found a 50% success rate). I spent 3 consecutive hours listening to music and happily cutting and pasting without checking the time. I even pulled out my glue and scissors at the Newark airport during a layover. I have become a scrapbook enthusiast.
The trial month for resolutions and new hobbies is coming to a close, but I am still as excited as ever about my scrapbook and have influenced some of my friends to join the new wave. During this past month, I realized that I have been posting on Instagram less as well. My desire to curate a digital memory has been replaced by making it physical. I used to frequently go through my own Instagram to happily enjoy my own aesthetic online photo diary. The scrapbook fulfills this desire and satisfies it deeper; because you will always be more real for your eyes than the eyes of hundreds. I can add a picture where I don’t look like the hottest version of myself, but look genuinely full of glee. I can then add a silly little anecdote to the side to commemorate the time. And then add a sticker.
So, this is me encouraging you to go to your local store and buy an empty watercolor notebook (mine was $4.50 at Target), a small tube of Modge Podge, and a paintbrush, and let your imagination run wild. Store all of your friends’ quotes, aesthetic landscape photos, poems, ideas, movie reviews, and every moment that amuses you in a beautiful and creative way that is uniquely you.