i’ve been talking about starting a new journal for what seems like months now (find the evidence here + here). usually when it’s a little slower in december i plan out my year (which i recently learned isn’t a very effective way to establish follow-through…more on that later) i should’ve taken this time to catch up on my side projects, like building an email list for #yearonpaper, but i decided to relax instead. i know. terrible! we went to san francisco + big sur for one weekend (photos soon) but you know what i did mostly during my small moments of relaxation? sat on the couch binge watching reruns. (could you tell?).
but it wasn’t all unproductive. no, i still haven’t got you all on an email or bugged all my real-life friends to join in (asking people to start journaling with you is apparently not all that normal), but one thing i did spend time with was elizabeth gilbert’s big magic after reading the review from my instagram friend, jaimie myers. like i said in this post on blog market, i took my time. between that and a post i read by made vibrant on following your curiosity, i felt like this topic would be a good way to kick off a year of journaling regardless of how prepared i am (or not) for this project and this year in general.
thinking of the year’s plans in terms of curiosity rather than resolutions is really intriguing (and beats overdone resolution prompts!). this concept of following your curiosity blows my mind because it is so incredibly simple, yet so powerful. in the blog post above, caroline talks about the trajectory of her work in design, and how she owes all of her progress to curiosity. why did she learn photoshop? it intrigued her. why did she learn code? she thought it would be nice to know code! and gilbert covers the same thing when she says we should maybe drop the whole “find your passion” thing and just follow what interests us, no matter how tiny.
for my first journal entry of 2016, i’m talking about following my own curiosity this year and what that means in my career, personal life, and creativity. see below for curiosity-themed journaling ideas:
do you like the idea of following curiosity wherever it takes you? have you been living and making decisions based on your own? think about your job, where you live, what you do on the weekends, how would all these change if you were to move based on curiosity alone? while writing, see if these questions lead you to new conclusions – does this make you want to make changes or have you discovered more about why you’ve leaned toward certain interests?
blog your next journal entry and stop by to leave a link so i can check it out! make sure use #yearonpaper if you post on Insta and tag me!
I love the photo shoot for this post and I love your pink & green writing! I always get big ideas, and then realize I have too many big ideas and not enough time to do any of them… January seems to be the time of year when I realize these things – that I can not do everything – if I’m doing too many things, then I’m not really giving any one of them my 100%.
I think that’s part of what has held me back in business over these years, I’ve been so all over the place, stopping and starting again. But I feel much more relaxed about it now.
Maybe saying to hell with resolutions, and simply being curious of the possibilities is a great way to go. And yes, it’s hitting home for me, because we’ve decided not to move to Walla Walla area, and instead, stay put for a while and later, find the perfect place near the coast instead. 🙂 Who knows where we will end up in the end, but it’s definitely fun exploring all the options!
xoxo
Janell, I think I mentally responded to this comment but didn’t ACTUALLY respond. Haha! First of all, the coast sounds amazing and worth the wait. You know my feelings on being by the ocean!
I think I’m still finding that out about letting things go and focusing on just a few projects. I always WANT to do everything I’m doing, not to mention I have a hard time saying no when new opportunities arise. So it snowballs! I need to stick with your advice 🙂