A long, long time ago, when my sons were very little, and I was married to their father, we took a summer trip to New York’s Finger Lakes.
Back then we used AAA’s Triptiks to get to our travel destinations. Today’s Triptiks are digital, of course, but in the olden days they were page-by-page paper maps with the route highlighted in yellow.
Yes, someone actually sat at their desk and with a yellow highlighter, marked the route and then mailed you the map. Finding your way to unknown destinations was so hard then that this was the main reason I belonged to AAA!
But those cheerfully marked routes weren’t always the easiest to follow. Somewhere in rural New York we missed a turn, and found ourselves on a road that looked too small and residential to be part of our route. I pulled over so we could figure out how to get back on course.
From the back seat, our oldest asked in a tone of slowly dawning horror, “Do you mean you don’t you know where we are?”
His previous unquestioning faith in us faltered in that moment. It was only partially restored when we retraced our steps and found the missed turn. All was forgiven (if not forgotten) once we reached our destination and he realized we were staying in a cabin by a lake!
Maps Serve Important Functions
Maps orient and calm our anxieties by:
- Telling us where we are, how far we’ve come, and how much further we have to go.
- Keeping us from getting hopelessly lost.
- Helping us persist in the face of challenges.
- Allowing to change our route and or choose a new destination if we want or need to.
What if, as the pandemic keeps us in a place of not knowing, we made time to create a map for our lives, a map that could calm and center us by helping us see where we’ve been, where we are, and even help us begin to envision where we are going?
Diane Morrow, author of One Year of Writing and Healing, offers three prompts to help us do this.
A 3-Step Guide to Creating A Map Of Your Life
We go back into our past in order to be able to leap forward into our future
~ Ira Progoff, At a Journal Workshop
The prompts are simple. The results of following them are profound.
- Where have you been?
- Where are you now?
- Where would you like to be?
Some “How To’s”
You can draw to these prompts, or make a 3-part collage to create a visual map. Or write to them to create a narrative map. Or combine a visual and written response.
You can keep your response concise, using key moments in your life as stepping stones to explore each prompt. These stepping stones might be moments you vividly remember, perhaps times that you now see as important turning points.
These stepping stones create a path that reaches back and stretches forward.
Choose one or more stepping stone that you feel drawn to, or use these ideas for creating stepping stones of your own.
- Births
- Deaths
- Beginnings
- Endings
- Moments
- Relationships
- Places
- Moves
- Schools
- Jobs
- Images
- Dreams
- Books
- Houses you’ve lived in
Immerse yourself in the process, letting your intuition guide you as you create your map. When you’re done, write about the experience. What have you learned? What questions came up? What discoveries have you made? How did you feel as you began? How do you feel now?
I’ll create mine, and share the experience next week. I hope you’ll get in touch to share yours with me.
Source and Credit
Morrow, D. (2016). One Year of Writing and Healing. North Carolina: Guest House Press
Photo by Daniel Gonzalez on Unsplash
This is an interesting idea, I liked the thought of it. But as I started to think about ‘where would you like to be’ I got stuck. I’m not really sure where’d I’d like to be. And that started me thinking about ‘what brings me peace and joy?’
That, for me, is my real question. Not an easy one for us do everything, please others women!
Hi, Kathleen! It is interesting, isn’t it? I have a feeling that a lot of people will feel stuck with ‘where I’d like to be.’ With all the uncertainty of e the pandemic, it’s a little hard to imagine the future. I like the question it led you to, “What brings me peace and joy?” and you’re right, that can be a hard one! Maybe let yourself play with the questions and just see where that leads you. You could try drawing, painting or collaging to each of the prompts (using your question), without trying to know ahead of time what will emerge. Then, if you want, write about what your creations say to you. You can also begin with writing, again just letting the writing just going where it “wants” to go and see where it takes you. Thanks for reading and for posting these thoughts! If you go ahead and try responding, let me know how it goes.
I like the idea of creating a map, Nancy. Your son’s Journey reminded me of mine, except it was for the opposite direction. A few years ago we decided to leave Atlanta and move to New York. We had to create a new map for our lives. Now, with the pandemic, it’s interesting to reflect on the past and the present and also on where we’re heading.
Michal, it struck me that his journey is the mirror image of yours! It was his soul-searching that inspired this post. The pandemic upended his life, causing him to make changes now that might have otherwise come years later. In the process of making the choice to move to Atlanta, he created his own map, naturally reflecting on where he has been, where he is now and where he wants to be. I’m doing the same thing now, using this prompts and discovering a lot in the process!