Can't keep up with a diary? A scrapbook might be for you
Sofia Ramirez
I have stacks upon stacks of empty notebooks that were supposed to be diaries. It's always the same cycle: I get a cute new notebook, excitedly declare it as my diary, and write for two or three days with a lot of excitement. Then, like clockwork, I forget it exists. It’s not that I grow tired of writing down the things that happened in my life, but I get scared of putting such personal thoughts out in the open.
I am a passionate fan of the Colombian telenovela Yo Soy Betty, la Fea, and I remember how the protagonist Betty put all her vulnerable life experiences in her diary. Betty’s diary was then read by her family and even her love interest. I watched these scenes in sheer terror imagining such a thing could happen to me. I want to process the things that I go through in my life, but the written word is sometimes just so powerful and intimidating.
If you resonate with this, then a scrapbook may be a good alternative for you.
Image Credit: Pinterest
Scrapbooks, as the name suggests, are books where you can keep the little scraps of life–mementos that hold greater meaning. They hold these little pieces as you ensemble them in a coherent unity. Scrapbooks start as empty blank pages, which work as a sack that carry the small treasures that you collect.
These treasures can be a variety of things: tickets from events you attended, stickers, notes, and even publicity. All these things are remains of your life experiences, so only you can recognize them. They are like symbols of which only you can fully decode their meaning. Therefore, if you are preoccupied with preserving your privacy, scrapbooks are a way for you to express yourself without being too explicit.
Image Credit: Pinterest
Scrapbooks take away the pressure of exposing your thoughts, while also allowing you to relive important moments of your life. By arranging the mementos that you keep artistically, you can make a collage of your life without feeling as vulnerable as when writing your thoughts down in a diary. If you want to start, you can simply get any sketchbook, gather around all kinds of papers and pictures, and mix and match them to your liking. They may not be perfect at first (coming from an amateur), but the need to express yourself and recount the moments in your life will be quenched in the process.
Doing this has been quite therapeutic for me, and I can leave it and retake it without feeling guilty as I do every time I abandon another diary.
Set your creativity loose!
Strike out,
Sofia Ramirez
Editor: Carla Mendez
Sofia Ramirez Suarez: Sofia Ramirez Suarez was born in Caracas, Venezuela, on September 28, 2001. She was raised in Venezuela as the youngest of two daughters. When she was 16 years old, she moved to the United States. In 2019, she received her high school degree as a cum laude student at Ronald W. Reagan High School Doral. She went on to obtain her Associate in Arts degree at Miami Dade College in 2021. She has been published by Miambiance Arts & Literature Magazine Vol. 33 and Strike Miami Issue 6. She is currently pursuing her Art History Bachelor’s degree at Florida International University. Sofia is passionate about the arts and how classic and pop culture can be intertwined.
