Week 2 : Journaling and Poetry

**************                 Hello Again!              **************

09-11-2022

        I hope this week has been good for everyone. With the holiday last weekend, my week definitely has not run as smooth and normal as it usually does. The lack of school on Monday has changed the grove for this week. I am hopefully next week I will be back to it. This week, I was able to journal 10 questions and read about 30 minutes of poetry. With all the writing I did last week, I figured with how weird this week was that I would take it easy. I still wanted to be creative and participate in this art but with the craziness of the week, it had to change a bit. 

        

        This entire project is one learning curve. Some weeks are going to be different than others and that is okay. Health wise, this project has been putting some stress on me while also being a stress reliever. It is a weird combination. I am stressed about logging everything and yet I am excited to be creating and indulging in it. When I create art, I feel more at ease. I believe it is because of the creative release and the fact that I am completing some of this assignment. I am hoping that I worry less as time goes on but we shall see. Here are my entries from this week. Enjoy!

***********************                       Wednesday                   ***********************

        This Wednesday, I decided I was going to do more journaling. I realized that there are 25 questions on the document and not 20 so I decided to journal twice this week. That way, I will still be able to complete all 25 questions in the four weeks. The questions for today were easier than I thought they would be. It still required me to think but it wasn't the soul searching I was expecting. It's okay, not every question is going to make me dive deep into my thoughts and feelings. 

        

        I do feel that the level of distraction during this exercise was increased because of the stressful day. I was able to get my mind off of things for a while but it was not as effective this time. Maybe this is telling me journaling is good on days where stress isn't through the roof? We shall see if this is proven true as we continue. Below are my journal questions. 

************************                            Friday                   ************************

        On Friday, I was having a hard time feeling creative. I was very excited last week and I feel in that excitement, my creativity was flowing. However, the weird week this week and the craziness has taken away from that creative flow. I figured a way for me to learn more about poetry while also sticking to the project and theme would be to read some growth poetry. This way I am still being creative with my interpretation but I am not subjecting myself to staring blankly at an empty word document trying to write something. 

        Reading is one of my calming activities. My hope was that I would find the same love of reading fiction as I would reading poetry. While I found it interesting, it was not my favorite form of reading. I found that my mind wandered more than usual but maybe that was a good thing? I am learning how poetry affects me while also learning the way I should digest poetry. It did get me thinking and took away from my worries of life. However, I felt more drained afterwards. Maybe it was because of the mental gymnastics my brain did to find a meaning and interpretation that fit me. Maybe it was just that the poems I read were not meant for me at this time.  I plan on doing this again but maybe with some audio poetry rather than just reading. Here are the poems I read.

************************                           Sunday                  ************************

        On Sunday, I decided to finish up my journaling for the week with another five questions. I figured after the harsh week, some light journaling would be an easier task for me to do. I also realized earlier this week that I needed to do a double week of journaling in order to complete all 25 questions. These questions required more thought from me than I imagined. I liked this though. It was definitely different than my journaling earlier this week. I felt engaged and really questioned what my answers were. 

        I was already exhausted before I start journaling. I had a long weekend so my body and brain was a little warn out. However, after I finished it, I finally had a sigh of relief. Not that this project was a major stressor today but just as a signal that I am done for the day. I had gotten some good answers out of myself onto the page and I could digest that and relax for the rest of the evening. Here are my journal questions. 

See you all next week!