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As the holiday season approaches, I find myself reflecting on this year’s journey by reviewing the pages of my nearly full journal. I began this one in August 2022, and as I prepare to retire this volume of ‘Stef-scapades,’ I return to the very first page, where I addressed my new journal.

This journal belongs to Stefanie Henry.

New book, new space, new thoughts, new chapter.

My last journal was bound in warm, red leather, embossed with floral designs. She stretched to fit my needs, storing mementos and enduring the rough handling from my frequent travels. 

I don’t know what to expect from you. You don’t seem as flexible, and your blue hard cover feels so formal. I question what you have the capacity to hold.

Today, we are strangers, but soon I’ll come to you to vent about my most personal affairs. You will become my safe space. I’ll flood your pages with emotions and experiences. I’ll apply varying pressure with the tip of this pen, and your pages will interpret the intensity of what I feel as I write. I’ll empty my thoughts to you before bed, and together, we’ll plan my future.

I’ll trust you.

In trusting you, you’ll help me continue to trust myself.

New things are scary. Change is scary. But change is the only constant in life. Change is also exciting, and I’m eager to see who I’ll become by the end of our time together.

Talk soon, 

Stef