Summer is here and I want to encourage widows to do a “Travel Journal”.  Invest in a beautiful, cozy and inviting journal to record your adventures.  A travel journal forces us to be in the present moment, to observe and record our new experiences. A good tip is that your travel journal needs to be portable so it doesn’t add weight or bulk.  A good choice is moleskin notebooks, look at thinner styles.  Don’t just write; record a humorous line, observations, events, pictures, tickets and any new scents you experience. Before you take off for your adventures, inscribe your name and at least two addresses, along with a promise of a reward in case it gets lost. Please don’t feel that you have to write in your travel journal every day.  Write when the mood strikes and you are able to absorb the fullness of the moment. What to include in your travel journal:
  1. Locals and the places they live.
  2. Traditions/customs.
  3. Difficulties and how you handled yourself.
  4. Emotional moments and why you feel them.
  5. Meeting/Talking with fellow travelers.
  6. Daily routines.
  7. Record your sense of smell. Focus on the smell of a place/food/
  8. Record new skills you learned.
  9. Record any jokes/anecdotes/quotations.
  10. Use your travel journal as a scrapbook. A place to keep your clippings, photos, tickets, drawings.
Change your plans by taking an occasional risk, and be willing to go after any new inspirations.  Don’t join the “woulda, coulda, shoulda” club of regrets.  If you feel inspired, be courageous enough to act on it.  I encourage you to ease up, bend your mind and try to do things in a new way. Feed your soul – In life it is so important to try new adventures.  Start something new, something that takes your focus off your grief.  It’s what we all need, to feel alive and feed our soul.  There are no limits, but those that you set for yourself.  There is no limit to the blessings you can count, the accomplishments you can celebrate and the memories you still have to make. Your travel journal needs to reflect the people, places and events that you experienced.  Just be careful that you don’t get too caught up in your journaling and miss enjoying every bit of the experience. Mary Francis, The Sisterhood of Widows #thesisterhoodofwidows, #widow, #grief, #griefsupport, #widowsupport, #howtogrieve