Week 2-Part 2: Challenge
Challenge:
What is the most challenging thing in this journal for you? Why is it challenging? What would happen if you went right to that challenge, jumped into your fear and did it?
Are you up for the challenge?
This week…break into your fears and take the challenge! Let us know what you notice, whatever happens! Post your comments here.
I’m still dealing with the concept of destroying this book. It requires a heuristic shift for me
!
….Great word..heuristic:) Did you read what Dana wrote in the comment section of Week 1?
Tell us more….:)
Susan
I’m doing a lot better at this creative destruction thing than I thought I would. Once the spine was broken, the spell was broken
The thing I am struggling with is the photo part! I often procrastinate on starting something I’ve never done before- and I’ve never blogged and added photos before. My husband has always taken the photos in our family, downloaded them, and had them printed. My daughter has helped me post photos on facebook, but I I have really struggled when I’ve tried to do it myself. I’m currently documenting the “wash in your pocket” page- now to see how long it takes for me to get it out there!
This week I did something I’ve never done before (and don’t plan to ever do again): I spit coffee on the journal page First, of course, I poured, spilled, dripped, and flung and that wasn’t too hard. Then I took a small sip and prepared to spit- but alas, it felt like way too much so I spit some into the sink. With the journal flat on the kitchen counter…I spit (more coffee than I thought) on it. It felt bad/gross/nasty/unnatural/”what am I doing this for”. But, I love the way that the page dried- dark margins around spots, large splotch in the center of the page- and even a nice stream down the edges of the pages following. Even better, it still has a faint coffee smell.
What else did I do this week?
1. I added my own page numbers, starting with 999. I decided that I was going to go against all convention and number them randomly (999, 10, 27, etc). I also used math equations, ie 2(5+5), roman numerals, negative numbers, decimals (Mike would be so impressed), significant numbers like 2009, 911, 211. Oh so creative and fun until I got to about the middle of the journal and stopped…because I thought I might duplicate a number (like anyone would ever know…how sad is this!!!!)
2. Fruit stickers- I picked off all of the stickers from all of the fruit that I had in my kitchen. The next time I went to Meijers, I peeled old stickers off the clear panels at the front of the fruit displays and even included torn and wrinkled stickers, which definitely went against my perfectionistic tendencies. In a daringly risky move, I “stole” a label off a piece of fruit that I didn’t buy. My final act of “rebellion” was to include the sticker off my spaghetti squash (vegie)
3. I started on my Stain Log. In my family, I am known as the Stain Queen- I can get out absolutely any stain using my huge arsenal of stain removers. (My sister and her son gave me a toolbelt for Christmas years ago filled with various stain remover products and it’s still in my laundry room for inspiration). Red wine- arghhhhhhh! I was really disappointed when I dripped red wine on the page and it looked transparent. BUT, when it dried, it left a beautiful purple stain (on that page and the page following.) Then, I took my journal out to lunch at Brann’s, where we (I and coworkers) worked creatively on the Stain Log: A-1 Sauce, cinnamon butter (this one continued to spread), ketchup, season salt, and raspberries. Since then, I’ve added other nasty ones: food color, grass, chocolate, and fingernail polish. How do I feel? Incredibly great relief that those stains are in my journal and not on any clothing!
4. Chew on this page. I found this one really gross and every time I think about it, I kinda start to gag. I started at the top of the page and chewed my way to the middle. The texture of the soggy paper, the taste, and the thought of what I was doing was overwhelmingly disgusting. Then, I remembered that when I was in school, there were always those kids who chewed on pieces of paper, so I took a bite out of the page and chewed it until it became a solid, soggy round blob (didn’t take long). Voila la- a spitball is created! (I’ve never done that before, either)
5. Tear out and crumple- this was wonderfully freeing! I loved the tearing out and the wild abandonment of intentionally crumpling it into a ball and throwing it. Even the sound was fun. Smudge, one of our cats, was fascinated and we played with the “ball” for quite a while. Smudge didn’t have any problem with chewing on it; in fact we had to hide it because we thought she’d eat it all.
6. I slept with my journal- even before I knew that was on one of the pages. I put it under my pillow (my husband said I couldn’t have it in the bed between us
)and was surprised to find that I could actually feel it, and it wasn’t very comfortable. It made me feel like the Princess and the Pea! So, I scootched it up toward the headboard, where it didn’t disturb my comfort or my sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I couldn’t immediately find it and I was sure that it had fallen to the floor (oh no!) between the mattress and the headboard. Never fear, it was still safely under my pillow. When I realized that this was actually one of my “wrecking” activities, I slept with it again, this time placing it between me and the edge of the bed. It felt smooth and cool on my arm- and really rather comforting. Once again, it remained in the bed with me all night. No visible damage resulted from these 2 nights of sharing the same bed!
Wow, Connie! You have been wonderfully busy!
Cracking the spine broke the spell!
The beauty of the images that have been created on your journey stand out in my mind. I would love to see the “stains” on your journal pages!