So I want to show you a peek inside my journal. Not that your journal has to look anything like mine, but I wanted to give you the idea and the feel of what I was hoping to convey with the class. So I have my journal, I made my paper and my cover using wallpaper and additional cardstock to give it a little body and then I have my pages inside and I'll show you how to make your pages and then you could fill them as you wish. The first page I've included a quote a quote that you can find in the download by Albert Einstein about two ways to live your life when as though nothing is a miracle. And the other though everything is a miracle. And I just find that very inspiring and helps keep me grounded, realizing about continuing on and whatnot.

So then I wrote my definition of social distance and how that affects me. Just very light hearted. I included some washi tape, the date and a sticker here. This page I haven't worked on yet. I included a sticker. And I'd like this to be an ongoing, ongoing journal.

So I'll just continue with that, as I see, I'll show you also how to make this little pocket page. And here I made it and I included some pictures of family. And then I made this little collage, again from the images that I've included in the download and it's two pages front and back. I just cut it down to a smaller size. And I wanted this to be tuck tuckable inside my journal and included images that somewhere a little more disturbing for me, it wasn't all happy. But I tried to combine that with nice images, pleasant images, the cup of tea, the flowers.

So here's just an illustration of some boys and masks from the flu of 1912 I think it was, and then the corona typewriter, and then a world map and just an empty bedroom. So I just thought it was kind of appropriate. And that was just very relaxing to create. Here I made a list of basically my gratitude list things. I was grateful for and I just did this with colored pencils, my own handwriting in a very loose technique. Melissa cancellations in my life that really surprised me.

And I got caught up in. So I included that here so that hopefully I can work out some of those emotions. I also included a spot here of my new routine, and how I've worked through all of that. And so I I listed my day, kind of how I go about my day now where I'm trying to avoid others. And then I just put in some happy illustrations, just it because really, I went through my list and then I added the illustrations. Here I included some things that were really on my mind weighing heavily, how my life has changed and, you know, tennis and just the grocery stores the chaos that's going on there.

Try to balance that with something positive, which was my garden. And so I included that and how that affects our family. It's really not much of a garden, but it is something that I spend my time on and something that I focus and we discuss. And, you know, I'm not sure anything will grow, but at the same time, it's very enjoyable. And so that I felt was really worth mentioning, in my memory in my life. Here I did a little spread on St. Patrick's Day.

Because in our family, we celebrate that we have a lot of fun with that. This year was still fun, but very different from years past. And I wanted to include that. My sister sent me a little thing and I wanted to include that as well. It just was appropriate for the St. Patrick's Day, given the circumstances of social distancing. Here I started to divert delve into a little more emotional topics.

10 One of the regulations, it strongly encouraged not to be in groups of more than 10 for your own safety. And so I got to thinking about that and the number stuck with me. So I I wrote it down and then figured, maybe I'll delve into that some more. So I included why I included the number 10. And then I got the idea to draw the molecule, the corona virus molecule. And I just went with it.

It's not as deep as it sounds, but it was very enjoyable and relaxing for me. I made this little tuck in here, where again, I delved into a little more heavier topic, and I tried to stay positive. But still, some of these topics are a little, a little difficult to deal with. So I dealt with my fears, and I just made a list, put a few illustrations in a few colors doesn't have to be very time consuming. Although it did take me longer than I expected. I want to make sure that when I chose my words, I was careful.

And then on the back I did some of the positive things that I've been seeing. And I really think this is important. The gratitude list and the positive list really helps to ground me gives me strength and you know, it keeps you going. So I want to include that. started making a list of how some of the small businesses and the local businesses were affected because in turn that affects me. So I was including that.

I took a page, a couple of pages here, and I listed all my family members, and how it's affecting them and how they discuss it in our relationship. And so it's a little private, but it's also a big part of my life. Here, I started just listing words and names that really, up until a few weeks ago, were not part of my everyday vocabulary. But now they are, so I wanted to include those. And then on the final page, I have that pocket. I include more family members and how they were dealing and coping with the corona virus.

Very interesting. Still positive, but I thought it really was part of my journal. last page, I explored some common sense some very simple ways to help myself during the average day. And I was thinking about you know, I love hot tea, and I included that Some lavender, peppermint and vanilla. I always find those very soothing. So I included that as well.

That's all I have in my journal to date. And I'll continue to add to it. And I do find it very relaxing. The beauty of this journal is I can continue to add more holes and more elastic to include more pages, or I can just tuck additional pages under that original elastic, so it gives me options. If I feel like I filled it too much, I'll just start another journal.