How do you like to tell your story?

[Darcy Baldwin]

When you journal, what kind of voice do you tend to write in.

Are you a happy journaler who likes to share with the positive spin, who loves the happy times and wants to remember life that way.

or

Are you the real story kind of journaler. Do you like to tell it like it happened, worts and all?

Neither way is right or wrong. It's part of your personality and a reflection at how you view your life. My Mom and Dad are happy story tellers. I find that I'm the Real storyteller. But it completely reflects our personalities and makes sense.

So which are you?

[ricslady]

I keep it real. I can't help it, I'm honest to a fault.

[DawnMarch]

I tend to shy away from the bad stuff, or I will mention it but don't go into a lot of detail about it. Especially if it is my kid who is going through a bad time, like bad behavior or medical stuff. I'm not sure it's fair of me to throw a lot of info out there in our albums which could embarrass them later down the road. I guess I'm a believer that some things are TMI or just private to the person experiencing them. I do on rare occasion do a page just for catharsis about my own stuff, but I keep that just for me and don't put it in our family albums.

In short, I'm a happy journaler.

[jacinda]

A bit of both. I tell the real story whenever I can, especially when it's an AAM page. I do tend to be a happy journaller with my kids most of the time, but then, they do have a happy life anyway - they're good kids who don't do too much wrong.

[ripal]

Most of the time, real storyteller. But then, I tend to look at something positive in every situation. So, even if I'm talking about something that isn't something to be proud of or about the dark time in my life, unless you know the back story, you wouldn't know the deeper meaning of the story. I like to keep it that way, so that the bad time isn't forgotten, but at the same time, when reading about it 10 years from now doesn't bring the sadness.

[NeverendingJen]

both. it just depends on the scenario

[chastml]

I do the real story. It just doesn't feel right to me to "spin" our lives to be happier than they really are.

[LJSDesigns]

I do the real story and I usually journal as if I were talking to some one, usually my son.

[Jengerbread88]

I change voice a lot. If I'm doing an art journaling page, a lot of times I write like I'm talking directly to the person (for an anger page or an I love you page), or I write like I'd write it in a diary most of the time. If I'm doing an album I know will be for someone, I write it with the "you" voice (second tense?). For my summer album, I knew it was a gift to my son for when he was older, so I wrote things like "You really loved the fireworks and this is how you reacted to them and blah blah blah." Some pages I write from an outside perspective, third person, explaining each of us and calling myself by name even-- and that's when I'm doing an album that will go to a LOT of people... like my vacation album, a lot of times I'll write in a voice of "Myria did ____, then Jenni did _____. This was what everyone did for the day." Basically, since it's going to so many people, I want us all to insert ourselves into the story and not make it feel like it's my book that I'm just sharing with them.

As for type, I'm a mix. For my layouts (which get printed into a miscellaneous album), I'm real deal all the way. I may have a negative nelly layout right next to a happy, bubbly layout. It just depends on what I'm scrapping. For things like my vacation album, it's all positive. Why? Because I'm scrapping for the entire group and I know we want to remember the good memories, not the moments where someone picked at another person, and in the long run, it's the positive experiences that will stand out and be memorable on vacation, so why commemorate the yucky bits? (unless they were funny-- like this year, when two very young siblings got into a fight and the one pulled the others' hair... I asked the family if they'd be okay with that being included or prefer I leave it out, and they DEFINITELY asked for it to be in the album for posterity... lol)

[glumirk]

I can't scrap dark pages. I might gloss over hard things, but the real deal journaling will go in my private journal. I use journaling to work through issues, and most if the time it doesn't need to be reread, or I can write what I've learned.

I may mention that things have been difficult due to growth spurts or teething, but I won't mention the teeth gnashing on my part because if I place the focus there I'm not happy. I have to work hard to keep a positive outlook on life and how we are growing or I will fall back into depression, so I don't want to throw those thoughts into my happy memories books.

I'd do admire the deep emotions some people can convey with colors and design, but I haven't had luck when I've tried because scrapbooking is a happy place for me.

[Darcy Baldwin]

Originally Posted by chastml

I do the real story. It just doesn't feel right to me to "spin" our lives to be happier than they really are.

It's not necessarily a spin, Mandy. I think it's more to do with how you remember..and how you think about things and how you think about life.

[rach3975]

Originally Posted by DawnMarch

I tend to shy away from the bad stuff, or I will mention it but don't go into a lot of detail about it. Especially if it is my kid who is going through a bad time, like bad behavior or medical stuff. I'm not sure it's fair of me to throw a lot of info out there in our albums which could embarrass them later down the road. I guess I'm a believer that some things are TMI or just private to the person experiencing them. I do on rare occasion do a page just for catharsis about my own stuff, but I keep that just for me and don't put it in our family albums.

That's my feeling, too. I'll give a brief mention to someone having a hard time in school or some of the issues we deal with related to DS2's special needs, but once they're beyond toddlerhood I feel like they have a right to privacy that I'd violate by including too much in our scrapbooks. I wouldn't say I'm an entirely happy scrapbooker; the hard times get mentioned, but less often and in less detail.

[MamaBee]

I try to be an upbeat person - both in real life and on my pages... If something bad happens, I don't dwell on things I can't change... so my journaling will be just telling it as it is...

[ripal]

Originally Posted by Darcy Baldwin

It's not necessarily a spin, Mandy. I think it's more to do with how you remember..and how you think about things and how you think about life.

Exactly! This is what I meant in my post.

Here's my example LO. It's from 2008. I was really really down in those days. We had just lost our home few days before Christmas (long story). We were given 10 minutes to walk out of our home and lost the possession of our home to someone who didn't have legal rights to it. But he managed to get sheriff serve us the papers. We called the guy a day or two later to at least pick up the Christmas gifts from under the tree for our kids and he had refused it. It took him 2 weeks to finally let us in our home to get our stuff out of there in THREE hours (and yes, we did it with help of our awesome neighbors and local community). It was the worst moment for me to pick up the kids from school (last day of school before holiday break) and tell them that they don't have a home to go anymore!

I did this LO as a closure to that painful episode in our life. But you really can't tell from the juornaling that there is something more to the story.

We're in much better place now and as family, we've grown closer together. But yes, we had to start over and rebound.

[clearskies]

I tend to be a 'play by play' journaler, so I'm going to say real life. That said, like Megan I save my dark stuff for my private journal. My scrapbook pages are about my family and our adventures. So while I occasionally do a terrible twos type page, most of my pages are upbeat or at least neutral in tone.

[catgoddess]

Originally Posted by chastml

I do the real story. It just doesn't feel right to me to "spin" our lives to be happier than they really are.

This is me, too. 100%

[scrap2day]

I don't always see the positive spin in real life, but I also don't write about the junk in our scrapbooks.

I would have to agree with Dawn and Rachael, I think some things don't need to be memorialized in our scrapbooks. I would never want their hearts to be hurt about something years from now because it is forever in our scrapbooks.

I see our scrapbooks as a way to capture our happy memories and traditions. I want to be able to share our scrapbooks with family, friends and visitors.

I also delete photos if they are not flattering to a person.

[jk703]

Originally Posted by MamaBee

I try to be an upbeat person - both in real life and on my pages... If something bad happens, I don't dwell on things I can't change... so my journaling will be just telling it as it is...

This is me. I might be upset for a bit, but usually pick up the pieces or myself and move on to figure out how to make it work for me. I'm a closet Pollyanna!

[staciahall]

I'll say my pages are pretty honest. I'm the world's biggest optimist so they naturally have a positive spin. I don't shy away from telling difficult things but I do it with the realization that my daughter reads EVERYTHING I do online. (She lives away at college and this is her way of seeing what's going on at home) I say nothing negative about their dad but I can tell stories that touch on that part of my life and do it in such a way that it is only my feelings. I've even done some hidden or blended journaling to disguise certain parts of it.

My albums are generally all from my point of view. I use "I" as me in everyone's books. I use "you" for either kids book and use their names in ones for both of them. Occasionally, I'll ask one of them to tell a story and make it obvious it is their words.

[Stacey42]

While I am a deeply cynical person I take a lot of amusement in my cynicism. I guess I am a cynical optimist. I tell real stories but 90% of the time those stories have a thread of humor running through them. I journal about the struggles & the problems but nearly always I find funny moments to include or something positive to mention

[Milmomma]

I kinda let it all hang out. The good, the bad, the ugly and the funny.

[ricslady]

Originally Posted by ricslady

I keep it real. I can't help it, I'm honest to a fault.

Let me rephrase. I keep it real but I never put anything on my pages that will hurt someone else. It really bothers me if I hurt other people. Sometimes my bluntness does hurt others but when I write my thoughts I have the ability to censor that. My actual journal/diary might not be as censored but my pages definitely are.

[Sherri Tierney]

I typically tell things like they are with a few exceptions. I rarely mention my mom in my albums. There is a lot of drama, frustration, heartache and pain involved with things concerning her, especially during my childhood and now how she treats my own children. They don't see things the same way I do. They believe that her idea of being a grandmother is just how life is and I'm not going to ruin the way they see her just because I see it differently.

Many times I will take a photo that was taken during a difficult time and put a positive spin on it. It isn't because I have rose colored glasses on, it is just because that photo suited the layout I wanted to do at that time. I don't shy away from the hard stuff in my albums though.

[LeeAndra]

My journaling is almost always directed towards my daughter, and I tell things like they are, good, bad, or otherwise. I live by, 'Mean what you say, say what you mean, and don't say it mean,' so while I do tell things how they are, I don't do so in a negative or mean-spirited way.