Journal Prompts #3
a journal prompt series
The transverse of traveling opens new doors of exploration. At the same time, that exploration is physical and conceptual. Whether that is intentional or not. It’s an experience that chooses it's own course of action due to the fuel of entering a new space.
Even going to a repeated destination is still a foreign space. We’re familiar, but it’s still foreign to our habitual routine.
Traveling reminds me of the level of connectivity that always happens during these trips, even if in a sense, we’re not doing much. The act of traveling in a pack or a pair or as an individual presents enough uniformity from a mutual want.
Traveling is a movement that requires dedication and focus. We enter a foreign space. We’re left in a space that, at the end of the day, the only thing familiar is ourselves or the people we traveled with. An experiment develops as what’s known is tossed into a different atmosphere, structure, and culture. We learn internally because we’re surrounded by the unknown, while the internal becomes the centralized part of the whole. We lean into exploration on an internal and external scale.
How do we react when in those foreign spaces? How do we adapt? How open are we to a new space? How are we not open to a new space? How do we hesitate in a new space? How do we relate to a new space?
I’ve been thinking about the value of traveling. Last week I traveled to Orlando with my cousins with a desire to enjoy our time in places that aren’t accessible in our daily routine.
I brought my 35 mm Film Camera along with me. Recently, I repurchased the same camera after losing it in the Eaton Fire. I chose this camera to commemorate the trip because of its demand to focus on what’s being captured. To be honest, when it comes to taking pictures, I have a hate/love relationship.
To take pictures on my phone, feels like using a distractive device. Like I’m pulling away from the moment. The moment becomes characterized by unfocused photos. A dedicated device (i.e. a film camera, polaroid camera, a digital camera), it feels inclusive to the moment. Those devices commands you to think about what to photograph. Using a film camera, I also know I have limited capacity while a phone is flexible for aimless snapshots.
With a film camera, I know I have a limit of 36 exposures (equals 36 pictures), which effects how I live in the moment. My pictures capture the life around me. How did I experience and view those moments? Do I even want to capture the moment and instead, just live in it?
There’s a lot to think about.
For this week’s prompts, I focused on the ways we reach connectivity. Here are some writing prompts I wrote out and would like to share:
What does it mean to you to capture a moment? What makes the moment feel that it needs to be remembered?
What’s your favorite medium to commemorate a memory? (junk journaling, writing, photos, videos, doodling, etc.) How does that medium reflect the way you feel emotionally connected?
When you travel, what opportunity do you have to learn about yourself while in a new space?
Write about a place you would love to travel to or the last place you traveled to? What restaurants, museums, parks, malls, landmarks, etc. did you travel to?
Hope these questions provoke further connection to self. : )