Hey you, yes you. I know you’re out there. Sitting between all your gorgeous paper supplies or staring at your digi kits. All those pretties you bought in high spirit to start your Project Life.
You were sooo exited to use them! You couldn’t wait for the new year to start so you could begin your album. You researched, you looked around, pinned inspiration and shopped. You were all set. And then…nothing. You were sick, the kids were cranky, the weather was bad and your house a mess. You actually didn’t like the trainer of your Zumba class (a new year’s resolution!) and the shops were so stuffed with people, that you didn’t go out to buy that killer outfit for your new you.
It’s all overwhelming and everyone’s pages look intimidatingly good. You have no photos. You missed the first two weeks. Oh my God, you’re behind already. What a failure! You’re rethinking your system, style and choice of products. Maybe it’s because you bought the wrong stuff, had the wrong strategy and that’s why you’re not exited enough and struggling? There’s this nagging suspicion, that if you don’t start strong, you’ll never catch up. Especially, because you have no photos. Except that boring one of the view out of the front door on 01.01.2013, that you thought was such a great idea to do every month from now on. There, you screwed it before January is half over!
The good news: It’s not the products, it’s not your approach!
All is fine, you got everything you need. You just build up this exitement and then the expected perfect experience never happened. You were not happily crafting gorgeous pages in your organised craft space, sun streaming in through the windows while you work with top photos of your smiling kids. Nope, you were exhausted after the christmas rush and your family was less than exited to have their pictures taken.
Yep, that is called reality and most of us live there (I can’t say all of us, because somehow we all know someone, who clearly doesn’t). And my message is: Get over it! Just start! Ok, so your album won’t start with week one, but week two or three. It’ll be ok. Or you throw together just one page about the first days using the wrongly exposed out-the-door shot and add a few photos you take now of those new tech toys, the kids are so exited about using them everyday since christmas. And the movie posters, you snatched online from the stuff you kept watching on Netflix, while you felt you should have been scrapping.
When I look back on a journal I did 10 years ago about a three-week holiday, I’m still so upset it starts at week two. I can’t even look at it, the missing week makes me so mad, that the whole thing is useless to me now. Oh wait! I never felt that way. I love that journal. Go figure! Maybe, just maybe you’ll love a PL album with two weeks missing, too. That has a first page, that isn’t yet perfect. But that is there. Because even feeling inadequate or overwhelmed or uncreative or whatever: You just started!
I love this post!! I wish everyone working on (or struggling with) this project could read it! I was starting to get very intimidated by all the amazing work on the PL boards and FB groups. But, I finally decided that I would just go for it and do whatever I wanted to do to get those pics and stories into my album. I figure that even if my pages don’t look like they belong in a magazine, my kids are going to enjoy them AND there is always next week to try again at getting just the ‘right’ look. I am just going to keep looking at those boards and FB groups and using them as inspiration, but as long as I am keeping up I am going to be content. I am ‘letting it go’ and just trying to take more and better pictures.