No Regrets

I try to live my life with no regrets. After all, you cannot go back and change anything. What's done, is done!

This week's challenge from 52 in 10 is to scrap about Life's Lessons - what life has taught you and the advice you would give to your younger self if you had the chance. And to include a quotation in your journaling.

It's a difficult subject. To open up your inner thoughts for everyone to see. It's not easy for a private person like myself, but here goes...

I do have one regret, an event that I should have handled differently as it has coloured my whole life.

I was very young, probably 6 or 7 years old and at Nanny's house. My cousins were there too. When it was time for them to leave, my Aunt told my cousin Roy, one year older than me and someone I idolised, to kiss everyone goodbye. He dutifully kissed everyone on the cheek until he came to me. He refused to kiss me and turned away. Of course everyone laughed and they left to go home.

A minor, silly incident, but it had a major effect on me. I learned that day that I was not a pretty girl. I grew up very shy and lacking in confidence. Throughout my teenage years and beyond, that one event changed me into who I am. To this day I do not draw attention to myself, hate meeting new people, and have a very real fear of making public speeches. At work I am a different person, hiding behind my profession, but I actually enjoy meeting patients and talking to them. In my home life I will go to any lengths to avoid unfamiliar social situations.

The advice I would give to that young Me would be to ignore my stupid cousin! - what does he know? - and to be confident in myself and my abilities. To make the most of the looks I have been given. Not to be shy, but to put myself forward at every opportunity and experience life to the full. Most importantly, not to accept second best because I believe it is only what I deserve.

Because of the page format I have chosen, 12x6, I cannot include more than one Life Lesson really, so this is the one I have scrapped today. The journaling is hidden behind the photo which I have hinged so that it can be lifted to reveal 'the story'.

And the quotation I chose to include?

'All things are difficult before they are easy' Thomas Fuller, MD.

Evolution

Having just made some order out of my scrapbook pages it is very clear that there has been an Evolution over time in my scrapbook style. I guess most people are the same, in that their style changes without them noticing they even have a style, which has happened in my case.

I started with very simple pages incorporating the photos, an embellishment or two, no title, and no journalling (that was too scary to contemplate at the time!). Looking back at those pages I am not happy with the way they look. Should I change them and make them more stylish and informative? No, I will leave them as they are. I can always write 'who, what, where' on the back if I want to at a later date.

Then I ventured into scraplifting other people's ideas and techniques - just experimenting really- and included small amounts of journaling which was always hidden from view. No-one likes their own handwriting do they? Also I started to add a title to each page.

Finally, after 4 years of scrapping, I realise that I include quite a lot of journalling to put the photos into context and tell the story. Embellishments are less important to me now, but I do still like to use different techniques on pages. I know that I am a stamper at heart and often stamp or emboss to add interest or texture. I don't feature very often in the photos but I try to make the effort to tell my story too with the occasional appearance. And of course, there's a preponderance of blue in all my albums!

Scrapbooking is still fun for me after all this time and that's what counts!