I want to invite you to try something fun if you happen to read this.

🙂

Nearly thirteen years ago, I started a post on my personal blog and titled it “timeline”. The point of that post was to record things in our history that I had searched up about. I recorded the date and a brief detail. Then I started giving each item a category. Along the way, I added things about my own history and the list grew and grew. I then gave myself one rule because it suddenly became easy to want to record every single thing down and flood my post with a meaningless record of things. That rule was, only as far as my curiosity would go. The thing I was recording had to come from genuine curiosity. It had to evoke a sense of awe in me in the first place.

So I did that and over the past thirteen years my list has grown, for a while very rapidly, but now I only add to it perhaps once or twice a year. However, I refer back to it occasionally, whenever I need to. To my surprise and delight, it has amused me every time I go back to it and find myself discovering things again. It’s very much like adding pieces to a puzzle. I’ve grown very fond of my list. It has given me perspective about history and added to my desire to learn more about the world. Beyond that, it’s also given me some perspective about myself too.

It’s very simple to start. You can use any note taking app on your phone or computer or a web-based one. It would be possible to do it in a notebook too. If doing it in a notebook, you would need to allocate pages to different perhaps decades and be prepared to move things around, a lot. A digital device would therefore be better for its easy editing function.

Begin by adding a date/year e.g. 1990 or a time period e.g. 2013-2024.

Next, add a theme e.g. a person, an event, an era, an invention/discovery, yourself.

Then add a brief description of what it is you are recording.

So for example:

Let this list grow over time and enjoy going back to it every now and then. I don’t suppose another person would find my list as intriguing and useful as their own but I’m sure we have a lot to learn from each other’s lists.

I would be extremely touched and happy if you tried it. Please let me know if you do!

As I started enjoying my timeline, I began to consider how this would be a lovely and possibly highly useful mobile application to create and have. Essentially, I think of it as a personal development and wellness tool — it encourages people to slow down, to look beyond themselves and to connect with the world around them. It also has other uses such as an educational tool as well as a social connection tool. Perhaps something people need in this day and age.

I love going back to it every time that I do and have benefited from the perspective it has given me — on the surface, it helps me to make sense of the broader world around me and because it is so personal, it is so useful. Then, when I reflect on it, it feels good to learn about the world around me and see beyond myself. At the same time, it’s intriguing in the way it reflects back to me who I am based on what I’m interested in and how my timeline has grown.

As such, I shared this with some friends and they suggested I create a deck to present and pitch my idea to people who may be interested in working with me on this. If you would like to know more about this, DM me on instagram or email me at lighthearthome8@gmail.com.

And again, if you do try creating your own timeline, please let me know too! I would be very happy to see yours!

(Funny note: I thought I should give creating the app myself a try tonight. I used what I’d learnt from taking an iOS/swift course four years ago and spent an hour catching up on it. And oh I know how long this is going to take me. It’s a really fun and useful skill to have/learn but I would like to spend my time working on the homestead and healing. I’ll keep working on it each week and see what happens!)