My New Autumn Journal

In this season of my life, I sometimes sit and think about paths I should have taken or missed opportunities. I always end up chalking all of my perceived mistakes up to inexperience. I sometimes try really hard to think about my mindset during certain periods of my life to identify my motivation for doing one thing or another.

I think about all of the sunrises and sunsets I missed in life and contemplate how could this be? How could the rhythm of my life be so aligned with the cycle of the days now, but not even thought about 5, 10, 20 years ago? I still scratch my head in wonder.

I suppose I should be happy I came to the realization at all. These days I find myself caught between the fast-paced modern American life where I check off boxes and get things done and a slow nourishing life steeped in reflection with a mindful approach to each day.

It’s quite the contrast and while I certainly lean towards the latter, I am, when it comes down to it, a realist. So a balance is struck between the two lifestyle dichotomies. It’s a work in progress, a constant evolution that gives me purpose each and every day. Some days are harder than others to find my footing between the two, but to every yin is a yang and balance is eventually restored.

With the seasonal shift to autumn, my slow and steady life shifts too. A large part of my reflective life is my journaling practice. This year’s autumn journal is sort of a departure for me, but if you look closely, my journals have slowly been changing along with me, aligning themselves with the seasons and becoming a new interesting place.

I will admit this has been a struggle. I have old ideas and methods that are hard for me to shake and I keep trying to create new approaches to capture all of these requirements. But over the last few months, I’ve stepped out of my comfort zone into new creative channels and it felt like the right time to bring my journaling practice along, to separate myself from the restrictive journal regiment of past days.

So this autumn journal is a catch all — a place I could document a day, sketch a scene, write a poem or a make a list. It’s constructed from a brown rugged 1880 Washington Irving book filled with two signatures of coffee-dyed papers, soft autumnal florals and old book pages. It’s neutral and lovely and I can’t wait to start working in it.

Take a closer look at my new autumn journal here:

I also created a new digital collection to accompany this journal, complete with vintage poems about autumn, a Winslow Homer painting (of course) and several other vintage images that speak to my soul during this golden season of change.

Take a look at my new vintage digital collection, Autumn’s Call: