I don’t know about you but I am feeling on the lost side of things these days, dazed and confused. So what do you say we make a handmade map? If you keep journal pages you can add a map there and then you’ll know where you are. When this mess is all over, you can look at it and know that this is where you were. It’s fun, it’s simple, it is an easy way to feel as though you are making order out of chaos and that is really therapeutic right now. Also, it’s not fattening. So let’s go.

You don’t have to draw well to be a good cartographer of your life. Yes, you could do a fancier job but if you wait, you might not get around to doing it. (Sound familiar?) Hand drawn maps have a special charm and immediate quality and a diagram of your neighbourhood is a powerful tool for storytelling and memory keeping. (One of my most cherished maps is one I made of the walk I took every single day for years with my dog: it was so ordinary but now that my animal friend is gone, I can still remember the familiar, happy path we went together.) Here is a video that will show you I mapped my neighbourhood today and simple ways that you can do the same.

Here are a few maps I have drawn from trips past that might give you some ideas for your own. Click on any photo to get a larger, more detailed view.

Please comment and let me know if you are going to make a map of your own. Better yet, email me a copy of it and I can make a post where we all share where we are – at kellyboler79@gmail.com.