"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustine
We will get back to why I included that quote in a moment. For my last two years of high school and the beginning of college, I wrote in a journal nearly every day. It didn't matter how inane or mundane the topic, I wrote some sort of entry. It could have been anything from "Went to class. Had a test. Did homework all evening." to a lengthy chronicle of the encounter I had with my crush that day. (The latter was usually embarrassingly long.) This went on until college. Sure, for the first few months, I kept up with it. But, as classes got harder and the hours of homework got longer, it was easy to sacrifice writing a few sentences of "Pulled an all-nighter because I put off a Communications paper until the last minute." in favor of catching the ever elusive z's. Since then, I have tried over and over to start a journal again, each time making up a rationale for making that purchase. Maybe if I got a different size it would be easier to carry so I'd write more. Maybe if I get a fake leather one I will feel more like a writer. If I get this journal, I promise myself I'll write in it.
I recently went back and re-read one of those high school journals. Quick piece of advice: If you kept a journal or have been on Facebook long enough, I highly recommend doing this. Your face might smart a bit afterward from facepalming yourself repeatedly, but it is quite an enlightening experience. It was the long, wordy entries about my crush, the party from the night before, or trips to the mall with my friends that I liked to read the most. All of the short ones that didn't say much of anything got skipped over. Every day of adulting is a cycle between work, gym, eat, shower, binge watch Netflix, stay up too late, go to sleep, wake up, regret how late you stayed up, lather, rinse, repeat. There isn't much to say in all of that. I have realized that I just want to write when I feel like I have something to say.
It wasn't until my most recent trip to Blowing Rock, North Carolina (post to come soon) that something clicked. I had intended on doing like most millennials and Gen Zers these days and chronicling the trip by taking a lot pictures for Instagram and my own archives. My friend and I walked into Neaco Hip Home Decor, one of the cute shops that line Main Street, and a notebook caught my eye. There wasn't anything particularly fancy about it. It was simply a grey, notebook sized journal with small gold lettering on the front. It was the words on the front that made me stop and pick it up. However, being the practical, semi-frugal person that I am, I walked away from the journal at first, telling myself I have tried this so many times. What is going to make this journal any different than the last several? We continued walking around town for a while longer, but I couldn't get the words on the cover out of my head.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page." ~ Saint Augustine
Growing up, my parents placed emphasis on the educational merits of travel. They took my brother and me to places like London, Paris, Charleston, and Washington, DC. It's because of those trips and even weekend trips like this to Blowing Rock that I adore traveling. So, it was no wonder that that quote struck a chord. My friend and I were starting to go back to the car when I stopped and told her, "You go on ahead. I have to go back for that journal." Suddenly, walking with purpose, I made a beeline back to Neaco, picked up the notebook, and marched up to the register before I could change my mind. "Decided to come back for it, did ya?," chuckled the lady behind the counter. I simply replied, "I had to."
With that purchase, I decided that I was going to actually use the journal. The pages are too large and the journal too thick to just fill it with random daily musings and ramblings. After all, that's what social media is for. Each and every line is going to filled with thoughts that last more than a few sentences, even if it only meant writing in it every so often. You don't have to write in a journal every day for it to matter. It is kind of ironic that I am giving this a go during a pandemic when big plans are far and few between, but even little weekend trips help this Restless Wanderer fulfill the need to go and see more of the world.
It was with the 2-page entry on the first day of our Blowing Rock trip that I began my own personal Travel Journal.
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