A fun journal prompt

Recently, in either her newsletter or daily Substack, Laura was talking about the passage of time and ways we can attempt to slow it down a bit. She said that one thing we can do is to reflect on what made today different.

Part of what makes time blur together is when we have too much “sameness” in our days, which is why often time seems to slow down on vacation or when we’re in new settings or new situations. (And this is also why childhood felt sooooo long, because EVERYTHING was new and different back then.)

She said that making an effort to do just a little something different or out of the ordinary each day, and noticing it/ reflecting on it, can help not only make life more interesting, but also help to ease this sensation of time racing past.

It doesn’t have to be a big thing! In fact, it could be very small and still count. 🙂

I loved this idea and for the past week have been asking myself this every day.

Another benefit to asking yourself this question is that if it’s already 6 pm and you think about it and you’re like, hmm, I have done NOTHING different today, you can still change course!

You could take a different route on the dog walk down a street you’ve never been on. You could take your dinner outside on the deck. You could call a friend you haven’t talked to in ages. You could make yourself a banana split for dessert, if you never eat dessert. You could play music while you take your shower if you normally shower in silence. You get the idea. 🙂 Knowing you are on a mission to have at least one “unique” thing in your day to write down means you’ll be more likely to DO something different.

Here’s my running list!

Today was different because:

• we took Charlie through the drive-thru for a birthday hamburger!
• I volunteered at a swim meet on a Tuesday night, and walked to the gym instead of driving
• we walked to Kwip Trip with Charlie for an iced tea/lemonade combo after dinner instead of our usual route
• we went to mom and dad’s for the first time in a long time!
• we ate Cousin’s subs under a tree and watched a parade and fireworks 🙂
• I went to Ivan’s soccer game and I talked to a bunch of new-to-me people from Mexico, Argentina, Uruguay and the Dominican Republic
• I looked through old photo albums from when I was in high school while cleaning out my storage room- and revisited my senior year London trip pictures for the first time in over 20 years
• I went to Goodwill with Asher and bought a pretty glass pitcher
• I went outside and did yard work/ pulled weeds in the middle of the day on my lunch break (let’s not talk about how I got devoured by mosquitoes… argh! Guess the mosquitoes love this hot humid weather as much I do.)
• I talked to my sister on the phone!

Thanks to Laura for this great idea!

Let me know if you try this. 🙂

Quote of the Day:

“People are frugal in guarding their personal property; but as soon as it comes to squandering time, they are most wasteful of the one thing in which it is right to be stingy.” – Seneca

Daily Gratitude:

I am grateful for summer mornings. Seriously, I was walking this morning and just couldn’t stop thinking how amazing the warm air felt on my skin and how immensely more pleasant it is to walk when it’s like this and not freezing!!