I’ve broken through. The first activity is to “crack the spine”. I’ll leave that til later thinks I, else it will fall apart. missing the point.
I did a few of the doodley pages, I slept with the journal and a couple other benign activities. hmmm… I feel the same.
Today I decided to get a bit riskier and got into some of the physical-but-not-necessarily-destructive activities (continuing to miss the point). I picked it up without using my hands (snigger), I climbed up high and dropped it (that got a titter). Feeling braver I tied a rope around it and took it for a walk dragging it behind me (outright laughter). OK, so while I’ve got the rope on, I may as well swing it around, too. It hit wall and left a mark (oops!). Try the brick wall (ahhh, better). That felt… good More wild swinging. Upon examination, the book is marked and a bit crumpled. It looks better, somehow. Oh, what the hell, I’ll crack the spine. RELEASE NOW I feel different. That was fun. Some paper shredding and drawing was done. I’m not quite ready to filthy it up, esp with sticky foodstuffs, but I am anticipating that will be another breakthrough. It’s so strange, the things we fear. 11 months ago

I read about this book on zeitgeist, when someone completed it (I don’t recall who), so I looked it up and decided to give it a go. I ordered a copy for me and one for my mum – they arrived today! I’ve only read the first couple of pages and already I’m excited. This is going to be fun. I’m saving it for after my exams (2 weeks to go). 12 months ago

Put it in your pocket. Put it through the wash. Stick it back in.”

It didn’t turn out too badly in the end.
But I think I’m being a bit too responsible with this journal. The worse that I’ve done is bite a page. I keep thinking, if I have to carry this thing around, do I really want to start soaking pages in maple syrrup?
When I first received the journal, I tied it to the punching back and took out my anger on it. That was beneficial. I’m learning that the most outrageous acts are the most fullfilling. I just need to let go a bit more and really wreck the journal. 14 months ago