Document your ‘isolation’ experience

As a memory keeper, I unequivocally know how important it is to document your life, for SO.MANY.DIFFERENT reasons. And right now, as we LIVE through this incredible life changing world history event, there can never be more importance on documenting your ‘isolation’ experience.

I can imagine in years to come, as you try and convey the stories of what life was like during the covid-19 pandemic, that your children or grandchildren will listen with no small amount of disbelief.

I mean, just picture you telling this story to yourself a month ago. If someone had told you the world would be thrown on its axis like this, you would have thought them crazy right?!

In every part of the world, we are affected by this pandemic, but in different ways. Our governments have all had an individual response, which has meant our personal lives are all changing in unique ways, and our communities all look a little different.

Tell YOUR story

Telling YOUR story, showing how your life and community has changed, and sharing this will be an incredible part of your family’s history. Documenting this in a tangible form is the best way to ensure that your story is preserved.

I have seen a post doing the rounds on FB listing what’s happened over the last month in the life of that person. It starts off by saying “posting this here so this is recorded for my lifetime”. I have seen many many people re-posting for the same purpose. It’s a great idea, but let me ask you this – when you decide that you want to find that post, how are you going to do it? I mean, have you ever tried to find an ‘old’ post on FB. I have, and I can tell you it’s not easy. Plus, this post has no photos, it doesn’t continue the story, and it’s not personal to anyone. It’s a generic post – that mostly contains the same information you’ll be able to find online in years to come when doing a history search.

What you should be doing now is sharing YOUR experience. How your life has changed. What you’ve had to stop doing. What a day now looks like for you. What new challenges you’re facing. What new blessings you realise. What a supermarket shop looks like now. What you’ve learned. What technology has helped. Who do you ‘talk’ to, and why them?

30 Day Isolation Challenge

If you’re not sure what to record, I highly recommend checking out the 30 Day Isolation Challenge at www.mymomentsandmemories.com It gives suggestions on things to do, and helps prompt what might be important things to capture in a photo, or to write as a memory.

I’ve used the #30DayIsolationChallenge as the basis for the way I’m recording our own experience.

Let CTMH help you record it

I decided to record it all in a 6×8 album, as I wanted an album that would be easy to share. So a young child can easily pull it off the bookcase and sit it on their lap. So I could pop it in my handbag to transport. The 6×8 Everyday Life album is perfect for that. (You can see another version of the 6×8 album HERE.)

I’ve had great fun ‘shopping my stash’ of products, mixing new and old to create it. Thankfully I have a selphy printer, so I’ve been able to print photos at home as I go. But if you can’t do this, don’t let this hinder you. You can still create the pages, write the stories. Just put a photo mat where you want photos to go. Write on it what photo it is, and start creating a ‘photos to print’ file on your computer, so when you’re out of isolation, you can simply print, and ‘fill in the blanks’.

Close To My Heart have been en pointe in creating a stamp set ‘Let’s Stay Home‘, which could not be more perfect for helping you enhance your pages. I’ve used this a lot in my album.

You may be surprised to hear that I felt the need to write a big story! 🤣 I really wanted to capture a world view on what’s happening, alongside the overview of what’s happening here in NZ. The #days in the album then capture and tell the story of life in our ‘bubble’.

The pages

I created this page that sits in behind the title page, that contains four pages of that overview. For those that want to know, the ‘envelope’ was created using my Cricut. The envelope file is from CTMH Everyday Moments.

Next is a page pocket that has the 30 Day Challenge sheet printed out. I wanted to include that as I mention it in my overview, and it helps explain the ‘days’. Not that I’ve done the days in order, or will necessarily complete them all exactly, but it does speak to why the project is like it is.

Then I start on the days. I used the 6×8 day templates provided on My Moments and Memories, and printed them on CTMH white daisy cardstock. They were a very easy, and styley way of creating a base for each page.

The only constant on the pages is the #day. Otherwise I’m mixing up each page, using the best colours and accents to suit that day’s photo/s. This is a great way to use up left over odds, ends and scraps. And that my friends, is a VERY good feeling. 😄

I hope this inspires you to tell YOUR story. Don’t worry if you haven’t started yet, just start today.

You will regret it if you don’t!