December 29, 2021

The Power of the Journal

By Rafa Infante

Journaling….. but how? Beginning with an emotion and writing it down for a later time is a great place to start. Whether overcoming a painful event, experiencing something new, or a flabbergasting new idea, sharing one's story and the associated feelings is what makes The Journal such a powerful tool. It opens the door to understanding, memories and reflection.

Take the scene above for example. An adventure that in my opinion was/ is the pinnacle idea of what an ADVENTURE could be: we changed our plans, made spontaneous decisions, travelled via multiple mediums of transportation, ran into some issues, and had ourselves a day experiencing it all. When spontaneous decisions line up to become this overwhelmingly amazing experience, I can’t help myself in wanting to write the series of events down. Going through different interactions of “plans” - taking little bits of them all - and piecing them together in order to make an “end plan,” is what made the adventure so fun. At the end of the day we ended up on a beautiful black sand beach in Northern California looking into a dramatic coastal episode of clouds, rain, bluebird skies, and the sun submerging into the blue abyss we call the ocean. I needed to write this story down. The question is why?

To start, what if I forget an adventure? The previous adventure surely won’t be my last and it sure as heck isn’t going to be the only memorable one. What if my brain gets so overwhelmed with adventures, memories, and emotions that I forgot some of the coolest ones? A real fear I must admit but this is an epic reason to have a journal. My journal is the holy grail of all my adventures, emotions, and ideas. The Journal has stories and thoughts that are crappy, phenomenal, intense, and imaginative. It’s a place where my thoughts can roam, and words can splatter across the page. There doesn’t have to be intention but what really matters is the satisfaction of having everything in one place so that when the time's right, I can go back to those scattered words, little poems, drawings and scribbles and say, “damn, that was a time.” Also, on the plus side, your English professor would be thrilled to hear that you are writing all the time! You know what they say, “practice makes perfect.” :) *cough cough, bs* haha, just joking.

So, what’s next in this process of admiring The Power of the Journal? Well…….