Introduction

After much thought, I've decided to resurrect my online journal. I have always considered a new journal to be a new chapter of my life. And while I never know what to say in the opening pages of each chapter, I still firmly believe each journal requires an introduction. The front pages of all my journals sum up the previous chapter and highlight goals and dreams for the new one.

Each journal begins with why I think a new chapter is beginning, why the present time is different from the last chapter. I am embarking on new and exciting journeys in a direction I've always felt called, but never actively followed. I am closing the door to old dreams, dreams that I were my own, or perhaps I merely thought they were my own. Regardless, the old me is being shed.

In many ways, I feel like I have ended a book, not a chapter. The past 5 years have been focused around a single event that has now come and gone. It came with its drama, its tears, its pain, its uncertainty, and its unfinished-ness. There have been beautiful moments along the way, roses among the thorns, stars among the darkness. That single event is over now. But the story is not over yet. A sequel is required!

This is part of that sequel. It is an account of one who trying to live on the Strength of the Absurd.