Seven ways to slow down and savor the yearbook you created

As the year comes to a close, responsibilities fall away. A yearbook adviser is never completely rid of responsibility – there’s always something you could be doing. But right now, while the mountain of work has shrunk to the size of a hill, take time to enjoy what you’ve created.

A whole year of work went into making your yearbook. You and your students have poured your hearts and souls into this project. You’ve probably laughed over it, stressed over it and maybe even cried over it. You have created a lasting, tangible record of one year in your school’s life.

While you can, take a few moments to really appreciate what you’ve created, alone or with your yearbook staff. Explore every piece of the book you’ve made.

Here are seven ways to savor your yearbook:

1. Hold it in your hands. Appreciate its weight. Savor the feeling as you run your thumb across the outside edge of the pages.
2. Really look at the cover. Your class or club created that design, and it is beautiful. Appreciate the smoothness, or any texture where you opted for emboss or deboss.
3. Open the book. Does the spine still make a cracking sound? Breathe in that new book smell. Imagine how the smell will change over the years.
4. Start at the beginning of the book. Or in the middle. Or at the end. Read it at your own pace. Appreciate every detail.
5. Revel in the special knowledge you hold. Only you and your staff know the reason each photo was chosen. You are the only ones who know all the edits that were made to the copy before settling on the final result.
6. Really read it. You were probably on a tight schedule during the writing and editing process. Now you can fully appreciate the story being told. Don’t linger on any changes you could make. You hold the finished product in your hands, and it is wonderful.
7. Don’t let any mistakes take away from your joy. This book was created by humans, it is about humans, and humans are imperfect creatures.

You and your yearbook staff created an entire book. You built a beautiful testimony of your school’s year. You have told the story of the students who walked these halls. Soon, they will be adults. In 30 years, they’ll be thinking about retirement. The building you stand in may have been torn down and replaced. But the people pictured in the yearbook will still take it out from time to time and browse. They’ll use it as a memory aid. They’ll use it as a tool to show the next generations what life was like.

One day, the grandchildren of the students featured in this book will flip through its pages. They’ll marvel at how young their grandparent once was. Perhaps they’ll wonder how we survived with such antiquated technology. They’ll likely laugh at the clothes and hairstyles shown in photographs.

They’ll be able to do all that because of something you created. Take time now to appreciate what you’ve done.