Today The Next Chapter‘s adventure through Wreck this Journal draws to a close. What an amazing time it has been. Full of laughter and barrier-breaking creativity! Here are some of the things that I’ve learned along the way.

What I’ve learned from Wreck this Journal…

• Shaking up your habits opens up your heart and let’s the creativity out.
• Some things that start out looking like a big mess end up looking pretty damn cool. And some don’t.
• Don’t let your art supplies languish in your cupboard. Let them come out and play.
• What you think is going to be embarrassing might actually be a great conversation starter!
• It’s fun and exciting to just TRY something. Anything. Just try it. See what happens.
• It takes bravery to step out of the box but when you do, ooh, it tastes like freedom.
• Adventure buddies are the bomb!
• There’s room to go much, much bigger!
• It’s awesome to laugh loud and long.
• I like the word awesome.
• Creativity will not be contained. If you let it loose in one are of your life, there’s bound to be spillover.
• Letting go of the result opens up a world of possibilities.
• Creating memories is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
• We are all magnificently unique.
• We carry around rules in our head that are outdated, irrelevant and counterproductive. Those dusty old rules are just waiting to be broken!
• For me, it’s about the experience, the unique deliciousness of this particular moment.
• Life lives in the unexpected.
• People are aching to come alive.

I have loved each precious moment of the Wreck this Journal adventure. It’s been a powerful invitation to our wild, playful, brave and creative spirits. May we continue to tear, rip, shred, colour, drip, throw, splash, cut, glue and giggle our way to creative freedom!

Another fun and playful week of destructive adventure with Wreck this Journal. I started trying to put things in these holes I poked. Once I put one feather in, I just couldn’t stop! I have a funny feeling I’m leaving pink feathers behind wherever I go. I’m love how this journal is opening up wider and wider and wonder if we are too. So, I’m out to dinner with Shannon, I pop to the washroom and come back to find my purse open. Weird. Only later did I discover that she had managed to tuck her circle page into my book! What a fun discovery. There’s one page that asks you to draw a continuous line and this week I decided I would do that on every single page in the journal. Yep, on every page. That’s a continuous red line from page to page, on every single one. Until the end. Come visit the wrecking crew and see what creative destruction people are up to. It’s never to late to join in the fun!

It’s funny being in my first week of the new digs and writing “week 6.” If you’re new to my work, I lead a book blogging group called The Next Chapter and this summer we’re adventuring through Wreck This Journal by Keri Smith. It’s an exploration of how destruction can lead to more creative freedom, and it’s a blast!

The page above is my crumpled page.

I just loved the patterns created by the crumples, so I started playing with them with a pencil, making deeper hills and higher valleys.

I really enjoyed finding different ways to add numbers to the pages. This could keep me busy for a long time!

And speaking of keeping busy, I have spent hours and hours having a great deal of fun with “Sew This Page.” Stitching is something I used to really enjoy when I was much younger. I find the repetition brings a sense of calm to my busy brain. And, of course, it’s always delicious to be looking at colour!

Looking at the book, week by week, it’s amazing to see how it holds reminders of my life this summer. Each tear, hole, colour, wave, wrinkle is a memory.  Hmm… that makes me think of how our lives write a story on our bodies too. I’m leaving my mark on this book, but there’s no doubt it’s also leaving it’s mark on me.

Come visit the wrecking crew and see what creative destruction people are up to. It’s never to late to join in the fun!