Here’s a paragraph from my own journal, followed by variations.
September 30, 2019
Today was the start of week 5 for the fall semester. It’s a little rough since my days continue to start at 6am and end around 9:45pm. Throughout the day there are several hills I try to get over throughout the day and the most difficult one today was classes. I kept falling asleep. Oops. It’s probably because I forgot to make lunch – running a little low on energy. I woke up a little while coaching.
Variations:
1. Chronological Accounts (No Emotions)
- Today I woke up skipped my workout at the gym because had too much homework for the day before my classes started. I fell asleep in class a lot. That evening I had a great time coaching.
2. Bullet points (Informal)
- Start of week 5, fall semester
- The length of my day
- Several hills like classes
- Fell asleep
- Didn’t make lunch
- Coaching
3. Reflection on Greatest Emotions (Singular Thought)
- The 5thweek of the semester is kind of like the rest, and I beginning to get more tired even though I woke up by the end of the day.
4. Descriptive Positivity (Turn Around Event)
- “Can we blast Taylor Swift and have a dance party?” My kids that I coach on Mondays at 7pm are now my dance party crew. They constantly are high energy and honestly believe that listening to Taylor Swift on full blast gives them powers to practice harder. I have to say, I believe it works. They are constantly dancing around to each station but focus when it is necessary. It’s a whole lot of fun that really gives me energy to get through the last few hours of a 16-hour day.
5. Reflective Questions (Rhetorical)
- Is it possible to survive 16-hour days that are on a constant cycle throughout the semester? Why do my days feel like a constant roller coaster, only the hills are high and lows of physical energy? Is falling asleep in class the new study habit I’ve mastered? Is a peanut butter jelly my only source of energy throughout the day? What if I coached all day; would keep me awake longer that sitting in classes?
Reflection: I like the 4thvariation because it focuses on the positive of the day rather than the negative. What happens throughout your day is usually forgotten if it is negative, so it is important to write down and remember the positive moments. However, I do like variation 2 because it helps me remember what happened that day for reference. I think using alternate approaches is a great way to understand your life through different lenses. There are different ways we can approach life and even more so there are different approaches we can write about life. Experimenting with different variations is a fun way to look at your day in a new way.
I also like the fourth narrative. I like the questioning one too. I wouldn't have thought to do it like that, so it was very interesting for me to read.
ReplyDeleteI'm interested in how you and many people wrote the fourth narrative, because I didn't even think about how it's a "turnaround". I suppose that's just because I saw the writing more objectively and without much resolution.
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