My journal entry from a year ago, October 27, 2015:
Lately I've felt the need to experience life more- to go on more adventures, step out in the world, create stuff. I need more things to write about, more perspective. I need to fill the well. Right now I'm scraping the bottom, looking for water. It borders on pathetic. I need to get a life. I need new mountains to summit. New trails. More coastlines. More redwood tree canopies. More sunrises and sunsets. More books to give me a richer context and a broader vocabulary to describe the world.
I started journaling at an early age. My parents were cleaning out their house recently and stumbled upon my first journal. The simple words I recorded even at the tender age of five are still a true reflection of who I am- I love the outdoors and I don't mind long roadtrips to a beautiful destination.
After a long hiatus from journaling, and in essence, from confronting myself, I started again. I began consistently journaling almost two years ago after reading Julia Cameron's "The Artist's Way." Every day for the past two years I've kept morning pages- unedited pages of my 'first thoughts'-- these ranging from my daily to-do list, my fears, new ideas for projects, current relationship issues, to big dreams and deep desires. It began as a daily morning practice at a time in my life when I was in the middle of a dark forest and struggling to find the path back home. Back home to myself, really. My journal was a flashlight. It still is.
To see how a life unfolds in organic and unexpected ways is precious. To witness your own growth trajectory in real-time, in your own handwriting, is perhaps the greatest gift of all. Since writing this entry one year ago, I have summited mountains, run along new trails, broadened my appreciation of the California coastline, and buried my nose in beautiful writing. I don't ever think I'll be done, but I'm appreciating how much life can actually be experienced in one year.
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur
Julia Pfeiffer Burns State Park, Big Sur
Ewoldsen Trail, Big Sur
Bixby Bridge, Big Sur
Russian Gulch State Park, Mendocino
Mendocino Woodlands.