In English 105 we had what is called a "Creative Friday." In the midst of excitement due to the "creative lights" and the "creative music," the class is planned out for us. We are to write a "creative paper" about a journey into the woods. We are to be descriptive and make up every aspect of the journey. Every few minutes, conveniently at the end of each "creative song," we were given a piece of information that we had to encorporate into our journey, we were also supposed to use the first things that came to mind, no thinking about it. Having no idea where this was going, I dived into a simple story about a morning jog with my dog. A good half an hour later the music was shut off and we were to put an end to our stories. We then learned the so-called symbolic meaning of each of the situations we were given. Basiaclly each piece of information we were given was a symbol for something in our lives. Strangely enough, I found some of the things to be true to how I see or feel about things. For instance, toward the beginning of the journey we were told that we were to come across a container of some sort then write about what it looked like, what was inside it, and what we did with it. I happened to find small blue velvet box that contained pink diamonds, I held the box tightly in my hand the rest of the story. To find something like that in the middle of the woods is somewhat unusual in itself. After learning that the container stood for material value in your life, things made a little more sense. I am not saying that I only value material things in my life, but they do play a part of who I am. The fact that there were pink diamonds inside shows that I am specific about what I want, and since I took it with me could possibly show that I want to keep things that are important to me close to me at all times. On my journey I didn't mention bringing anything with me. To be completely honest, I totally forgot that I was supposed to include what I brought. Take it as a sign because as soon as I found out what I didn't bring stood for it all made sense. How you prepared for your journey was to symbolize how well you prepare for things in life. Conveniently, I brought nothing with me which indicates that I don't prepare for things in life. This is true part of the time. I believe that taking things as they come is the best way to handle things, you can't prepare for everything. For instance, I usually do my homework the night before it is due. It is always done on time and completely, but I'm not the one to work on it way ahead of time "in case something comes up." In that sense I suppose you could consider me unprepared. When I go out, I don't feel the need to spend hours and hours getting ready when I feel the most myself in sweats and no makeup, or shower. I don't think you need to prepare to be yourself and I don't think your true self comes out if your 100% prepared for everything. I believe that you can plan, worry, and think about the future but you have to live life by the second and in the present. You can't prepare for the unknown. A little ways into my journey I encountered a fast moving, flooding stream that was deep and very clean. I'm a water girl, always have been and always will be, so needless to say I was estatic to find water in my woods. When I found out what water stood for I couldn't help but laugh. Water was supposed to symbolize sex. I believe that the size of the body of water stands for how important sex is to you and how big of a role it plays in your life. The stream I found was flooding, showing that I am at a stage in my life where sex does play a more important role than ever before. The fact that it is deep may indicate that there is more to it than we see, the fact that the stream is clear shows that I am seeing and experiencing all the aspects sex may include. I think that the pace of the stream stands for sex drive. The stream moved at a constant but quick pace which is usually the sex drive of most college kids, guy or girl. How you react to the body of water is how you feel about sex in general. I had the urge to feel the water right before suddenly jumping in. This shows that I am comfortable with sex and all that comes with it. I believe it is something everyone should experience and not something to be afraid of. The fact that I jumped in without thinking may show that I am okay with, accept, and understand all emotional and physical aspect of the activity. Personally, I believe the journey as a whole relates to your life. I spent my entire journey searching for something I couldn't find. I looked all over for my house which is important to me and contains many memories, only to be disappointed everytime I thought I was getting close. In the end when I finally gave up looking for it, I turned around to find my house standing exactly where I wasn't looking. This applies to me specifically because like alot of people I spent time looking for love. I tried really hard to find it, going through infinate relationships where I thought I had found what I was looking for, only to be completely wrong. After having enough I gave up, stopped looking and decided I wasn't going to be the one to get hurt, no one was worth my tears. As soon as I stopped looking, I found it. I found it exactly where I never thought it would be and its real. The one person that deserves my tears, but would never do anything to make me cry. Its amazing what can sneak up on you when you're not looking.... Back to Homepage