So I’ve been using that “Wreck This Journal” book more and more. It’s helped to loosen me up a bit, keep me from being so rigid in the way that I approach things. I like it. I even took the time to read the dedication, which is why you’re seeing the annotation I left there.

I’ve been using it here and there when I feel like being a little destructive. It’s almost therapeutic, the way it helps me express myself by damaging something or “wrecking the journal”.

It even inspired me to draw this:

Which is totally different from my typical style. Much rounder. Less sharp angles. Looser. Bubbly. I didn’t finish it, though — I can’t even fathom what a body looks like other than what I’m so used to composing. I feel so limited! I feel like I can’t draw!

I was especially put in my place when I received this gift art from Harvey James, an amazing illustrator whose art makes me smile:

Incredible, right?! This is based on an actual drawing of me! I was like, “Fuck, I can’t draw at all compared to Harvey”, ROFL.

Really though, it’s amazing. I received it large enough to print so that’s what I’m probably going to do — frame it and put it up in my room. Work of art, seriously. And it helps that it’s me in the drawing, amirite? HOHOHOHO! XD

Anyway, here’s something sexy for you …

And something disgusting too:

Nasty, right?
I KNOW. IT WAS SO FUCKING LIBERATING. THAT IS MY PIMPLE BLOOD. How many of you are grossed out or disgusted?! GOOD. And aren’t you glad I cushioned your fall with Victoria’s Secret undies?! Gawd, I am so thoughtful.

That’s a page from “Wreck This Journal”. And actually, I made a mistake because the instructions on that page say: “Pour, spill, drip, spit, fling your coffee here.” And I guess I thought it meant that I could pour and spill or spit whatever I wanted onto the page, including even flinging my coffee onto it.

Fail.
But thankfully, the book started off saying something like, “Interpret these directions any way you like.”

Holy shit, right?
I can color OUTSIDE the lines?! *Wide-eyed*

I can see why this book would be dedicated to perfectionists. With how freaking one dimensional I feel sometimes in terms of the way that I think, this has helped to shake me up a little and see things from a different perspective.

Have I said that this thing like therapy yet? Because it is. I feel better when I use it. Like … Like I can make as many mistakes as they want, and it’s being productive. Like this is the one thing that I can seriously destroy and it will have been for a good reason.

Wreck This Journal is like that crazy teacher at school who tries to makes everyone sit the desks in a circle, or takes the students out on the lawn to learn while in the sunshine. A break from routine. A new approach to expressing ourselves.

If you’re like me and you find yourself tense sometimes, angry, upset about something, or like you’re a failure who can’t do anything right? Try this. It’s seriously a dream come true for someone like me who spends all of her free time pushing for a certain goal, and cursing myself when I’m unable to accomplish it.

If you want to pick it up, you can grab it from here for only $7.77 (I had to pay full price at $12.95 because I bought mine from an actual store: Barnes & Noble, WTF?): Click here to order yourself a copy for much cheaper than I got mine for.

Feeling loads better,
XOXO Cheri XOXO