the creative notebook: venturing outside

it's time to take our journals out and about with us.

Last month to sign up for this fall’s Rest | Restore | Explore Retreat Nov 3-9! Read all about our guest Kalah’s experience in the spring retreat here, and get details on the fall retreat and how to sign up here.

a view of l’albi, out on a walk to journal outside

Last week, in my letter to you, I told you about August, starting with how hot it was. Well, those last days of August, the heat broke. I even needed a sweatshirt on the last night of August. Have I told you how much I don’t do well in the heat? I kind of… melt. Like crayons in a hot car: I am a mess.

So I am noticeably relieved that the heat has chilled out, that we are now having daytime highs in the low to mid 80s instead of high 90s. Those might sound like still-hot temperatures to my old friends back in just-below-cold-Canada Michigan, but here these temperatures are delightful, since it’s significantly cooler than the last two to three months, with practically zero humidity I might add. Like, people have noticed the change in me so much they have told me how much happier I looked.

I told you I was a hot mess, a melty crayon box in a hot car. A hot car with fabric seats, mind you: harder to clean up after. That kind of mess. You feel me? You feel the extent of the mess I am during the hot summer months?

So of course, now that I can stand to be outdoors without needing to be near a pool or a sea, I am planning my ventures out for journaling dates again. Recently, before heading to a doctor appointment in a town about half an hour away, I stopped by a favorite bakery to have a second morning coffee and time in my journal.

Quite a good number of the bakeries here are kind of like coffeeshops in the U.S., but with more pastries: they have a big fancy espresso machine, tables and chairs indoors and out to sit in while you sip your coffee and nibble on your chocolate croissant. People meet friends there, or just stop on their own. It’s a great place to people-watch. And a great place to pack my journal with me and get some thoughts down, a little intentional pause in the middle of a busy day. I like to head out for appointments half an hour to an hour before I need to, leaving me time for a stop at a coffeeshop and a journaling session while I am already out of the house.

I also like to wander out of town, follow a tiny winding country road, and stop somewhere with a beautiful view and a comfy rock. In my bag I pack a little camping/beach sheet, my journal and ephemera, some ink and colorful materials, a little jar of water and some paper towels, and off I go. Sometimes I write while I am out, sometimes I sketch the scene in front of me, sometimes I just play with line and color on the page, letting the landscape inspire me but not trying to capture what it realistically looks like. I just capture some movement, or some color, or the feel of the world around me- it doesn’t have to look anything like the landscape in front of me. Especially in my journal, we are just documenting, just capturing, just experiencing. I love those country walks, and those coffeeshops. I used to feel really self-conscious about journaling out in public, until I lived in Spain 20 years ago and did it enough times to realize that, oh, people don’t really care all that much about what I am doing over here in my spot. No one is really paying attention, really. I in general am left alone, and no one is really all that interested in what I am doing.

views above and below, on a trip out to the countryside to journal

What a relief to not be as noticeable as I thought I would be. Not really interesting enough to capture the attention of strangers, after all.

So may this be an encouragement to you, as well: you’re probably not interesting enough to capture the attention of strangers, either. Isn’t that nice? I’m glad I could encourage you.

This week’s prompt: