Circle Back And Keep Learning

The prompt for JOURNAL 52 this week is "Circle".  This is the last prompt for this first year of J52...I can't believe it!  It seems like we only just got started!

Many thanks to Chelle (the generous lady behind J52) for all the hard work she put into this project!  She came up with some really awesome prompts, and I can't wait to see what she has in store for the future.  I can honestly say that I have learned so much and been stretched creatively and mentally/emotionally by this fantastic project. <3

Chelle mentioned in this week's post (linked above) the idea of bringing something to a close and the little twinge of sadness that goes along with it.  But she also called to mind that, as one thing comes to an end, something else begins...hence the "circle" prompt.

For me, there is a huge sense of accomplishment that goes along with Journal 52's inaugural year reaching completion...but I'd be lying if I said I don't feel that twinge of sadness here at the end of this first year!  (Thank goodness J52 will continue in 2015!)

One of my biggest goals in 2014 was to "not be a flake"...in other words, to see something through to the end.  And now here I am, with this last piece of that puzzle in my hands. In a day or two, I'll have completed my second year-long project (Documented Life).  All that's left of this year's J52 journal is to decorate my cover...and then it's over...it's complete...I did it.  I reached my goal and I proved to myself that I can stick with something...I am a finisher...I can do anything I put my mind to...wow.

Just wow.

And so, my friends, I present to you the last page of 2014's Journal 52 journal, a major milestone in both my creative journey and my personal growth:

Had to pick happy colors to balance out the blues that I was feeling over this being the last page!

I was thinking about those "Groundhog's Day" type movies when I did this piece...you know, the ones where the main character has to live the same day over and over until they get it right...

"It won't let go until you learn."

...I was thinking about how life really is like that in a way...how we seem to circle back to things, how we find ourselves in the same situations we've been in before, feeling the same way we've felt in the past, telling ourselves we'll never let a certain thing happen again and before we know it we're right back at it...

And I came to the conclusion that we can't free ourselves from those circles until we learn...until we honestly learn.  And just like in those movies, it's not up to anyone else...we're Bill Murray and we're the only ones who can change things...and if we don't, we're the ones who are doomed to repeat the same things time and again for the rest of our lives.

This last page of my J52 journal is to lovingly remind myself, to keep it fresh in my mind for 2015, that I'm the one who has to change...I'm the only one who has the power to make life better or to let it be the same as it always has been.

And I choose change.

A loving little reminder...

Like I mentioned at the beginning, all that's left to do is the cover and 2014's J52 journey will be complete.  I'll work on it and share that with you sometime before January (I better get a move on...not too many days left!) and I'll try to include all the 52+ pages (some weeks I was an overachiever) in that same post, so be on the lookout!

For now, I'm off to watch a little Sherlock and finish off my Documented Life journal...