Life is nothing but a journey yet there are two journeys one travels with time, the internal and external, and that those journeys make a person who he or she is. This I discovered in my Journey in Literature class when I was assigned to make a Journey Journal which would represent my internal journey. In this journal, a notebook with blank pages, I would write free thoughts and compasses for about ten minutes almost every day. Also, I decorated it with pictures and drawings of some of my internal as well as external journey. There I included pictures of some trips I have made around the world as well as pictures of places I want to visit. For my internal journey, I placed pictures of the relationships I’ve made throughout the journey and also pictures of my life goals.
One of the things I did on the journal was write free thoughts, which I wrote 40 entries. Each entry was a way of connecting with my stream of consciousness. I would write anything that came to mind, but we had to follow a series of non-rule rules: don’t cross out words, keep your hand moving, go for the jugular, and don’t worry about spelling. Throughout the semester, I noticed that my writing changed significantly. My first posts were very superficial and my handwriting was neat. Also, it was hard to follow the writing rules. Nevertheless, as time went on, my posts hid more and more of my secrets, my handwriting got more illegible, and I didn’t worry about my grammar when I wrote. In fact, I noticed that I began to write more and more in those ten minutes.
On the other hand, I also made journey compasses in my notebook which consisted of a compass that points to the spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical sides. Here I wrote a number from one to three rating from least (1) to greatest (3) how I felt in that aspect. In addition to this, I was assigned to write a small reflection on each direction. At first, I would think a lot about what number to put, but later on I understood that it was the first one that would come to mind and in the reflection I would analyse why I put those numbers.
When I re-read my journal to write this post, I noticed that many of my writings were about my preoccupations and finding solutions to the troubles I had. Never had I realised how much stress I go through during the semester, but while writing my problems, I took a time of the day to acknowledging that something was wrong and doing my best to solve it.
With this Journey Journal I got to know the person that I am. In fact, I got to see that I am many people combined into one body. I noticed that I tend to change depending on the person I refer to or think about. It is a type of defence mechanism if you will. I also noticed that I hide many of my emotions and with this journal I was able to express myself even though it was only with a piece of paper. In conclusion, the Journey Journal completed its purpose in making me reach into my inner most thoughts and become more open with myself. I look forward to continue writing on it and connecting more with my stream of consciousness.
