Create Volumes For Bonus Payoffs

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Create Volumes For Bonus Payoffs

Rebecca Jackson • March 12, 2021

Choose your style & frequency, but be sure to choose to journal your journey for BONUS rewards!

Ok, right out the gate on this one I am going to drop an "Uncomfortable Truth"...this is a BONUS step for a reason, it is the one step I have yet to begin consistently executing in my own personal self care system. One that I know to have great rewards when executed consistently in a way that is fun for you, but alas I have a huge brick wall in front of me in this specific area. I can't seem to get myself into a consistent routine, though I have tried many times, have a pen, marker, and pencil collection that would make many jealous. I have acquired more cute notebooks, journals and well intended planners than I can count, and yet I can't seem to implement this step in any really effective way for myself. However, the fact that I have the collection of journaling materials that I have, and that I have started and stopped in dozens of new collections of pages bound together for this purpose, tells me one thing. That I am committed to figuring this step out for a reason.

A reason I know in the core of my heart, and that is because, it is an incredibly rewarding practice. One that if executed in your life on a consistent basis, can prove many personal rewards, as well as serving as proof in your life of the volumes of things you have come through. Things you have celebrated. Things you have survived. Seasons you have struggled in only to find your way through it to thrive again. Seasons where your celebrations with loved ones lost can serve as reminders when grief is so consuming you can barely handle it. Seasons that can show you, undeniable proof of growth when you need a little reminder of just how Bad Ass you really are. A Dazzling Warrior, we already know it to be true, but this practice can help you prove it to yourself when you need the most honest reminder.

Whether it be a handwritten diary style, random thoughts collected, creative sparks of inspiration compiled, or more of a photo scrapbook version, it doesn't matter. What's important is that you find a way that feels easy and fun for you. If adding this step is a layer of Personalized Self-Care that you want to implement, do so in an open, honest & creatively inspired way that really speaks to the type of person that you are, it will only add to the effectiveness in the process. Do your best to not be overly concerned with it looking "perfectly pretty" (this is likely a piece of my own brick wall, but not the whole wall). Putting your thoughts, your trials, your triumphs, your journeys, your rewards, your dreams, your goals, your deepest spiritual feelings, and sometimes even your past, down onto paper begins a whole new way of getting in touch with yourself, truly & deeply, and doing this will only ensure you attain your most truly Dazzling self!

Now I haven't found success in a consistent approach, but I do still have "Volumes" to draw on, from some scattered seasons, in various stages of my life, across a variety of mediums. When I find myself in a introspective place, or struggling exceptionally with something that I can't find peace in, I will dig through my "Volumes" and look for places that I see great personal triumph. I will reread things that I previously wrote that reminds me I can endure, that I have grown, that I can survive this too. In todays technological age, it is all to easy to get comfortable substituting this step with an app, or a digital document, or some other technology based substitute. THIS IS NOT THE SAME THING. Though these methods may seem like they can provide similar benefits to journaling, they don't provide the one final benefit that matters maybe more than the personal gain.

The ability to put your handwriting into the book as your hand brushes the page & maybe smears a little ink, proof to future generations that your hand was there, and that that's how you wrote your "t's" & "y's".

Your fingerprints pressed deep into the washi tape you used to adhere a photograph of you and your first child on the day they were born, with a note about the moment scribbled next to their crib card.

A picture with your grandpa, the last time you saw him alive, next to a story about how much it meant to you to have them in your life and a personal memory recalled.

The original sketches of an idea you went on to work hard, hustle and fight to make a reality, eventually turning into success,

all laid out like nothing on a cocktail napkin folding into an envelope tucked into the pages and pages of creative process, so that someday younger generations can see it and get inspired by the effort.

A poem you wrote one evening when you felt all too sad about a high school break-up only to get past graduation and meet

the partner of your lifetime months later, proving that God Blessed the Broken Roads too for when your children

worry if they will ever fall in love, like for real.

The tangible proof that you lived, that you loved, and that you impacted the world by your presence in it.

I am all too familiar with grief. I have loved and lost more people near and dear to me than seems fair at my age. I know so many people who haven't had a "close loss" until their 30's or even 40's and those people, I consider so very lucky for having not endured the pain, the heartbreak and the emotional turmoil and trauma attached to losing someone you love dearly sooner. For me, I would cherish these little things had they been left behind, the breadcrumbs of their life. The notes they took when it seemed as if nobody else cared, the celebrations when they felt on top of the world. I am a mother, and I am in a season of life savoring every last interaction with my last living grandparent, watching as my mother cares for her in these late stages of life, and I know she cherishes those moments with her mother, who has blessed this planet for over 90 years. As a family we still grieve the loss of her husband, the family patriarch, and love of her life for over 70 years before his passing almost 7 years ago.

The love wrapped into their legacy are the things that inspire my own little family branch, in their big old family tree. I hope to leave for my girls, proof that our family legacy is built on true love for generations before & for generations to come. Love of ourselves as the truly dazzling creations we are. Love of our family and the generational growth of that love. Love of each other and how our encounters with others can lead to so many blessings we don't even see. Love of them and how being their mother has profoundly changed me. Love of their father, and proof of how well he loves me, because I believe these are the things that healthy generational love are built on. My girls will look to be loved how recieve love, how they see me recieve love from their father, and how love surrounds them, and we live our love story with that fact in the forefront of what makes our relationship work.

Now I didn't go off onto this tangent because I believe I am a qualified relationship expert, or because journaling should only be used for your love stories, rather I did because, simply put, Love is a great example of how journaling can be beneficial on a generational level when discussing legacies. Also, because in my own life, this is an area I feel called to begin my journaling journey once again.

With that being said I want to invite you to begin the journaling process. No matter which step you are on,

Step #1 - Back To The Basics

Step #2 - Step Up Your Game

Step #3 - Do Something Little Just For You

Step #4 - Find Yourself A Hobby

Step #5 - Get Your A$$ Moving

Step #6 - Dream Big

Step #7 - Don't Quit. Keep Updating & Evaluating Your Needs

Start NOW with this BONUS step and begin journaling your "Journey To Find Your Dazzling" so that when you get through the steps and start over again you will have begun creating your own "Volumes for BONUS Payoffs" in your personal care growth. Watch our social media pages for ways to earn prizes or a shout out on our pages for joining our "Journey In Journaling" club! To join the club, simply post a picture of the journal you plan to begin your journey in and tag Dazzling District in the post on Facebook or Instagram and then watch for a message inviting you into the club with more details!!!

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