This I believe : Free-draw

  I believe in the power of scribbling. “Youth is just like a white sheath of paper, so life changes depending on the picture you draw on it.” This is one of the most memorable sentences in my life which made a profound impression. Maybe this sentence should is the reason why my heart still goes pit-a-pat when I have a blank sheath of paper in front of me. All of those scratch papers and notes I’ve left last as fragments of my life.

  The history of my scribbling has its origin in writing diaries. Just like the rest of the Korean students, I wrote my first diary as elementary school vacation homework. As I grow older, I started to write my own diary. I liked it because at the moment I let my pencil dance over the white, blank piece of paper, I could be free and sincere. I wrote some memorable events of the day, colorful feeling and plans for the future. I wrote sayings, poems, and lyrics that were sometimes made on my own, and sometimes by others. Since I was and still is a type of person who has difficulty sharing my story with others, the diary was a good shelter for me. My scribbling note started from here.

  Later, I thought it would be better for my note to be freer. While defining it ‘diary,’ I felt some sort of obsession that it should be secret, wrote only once per day, etc... So I decided to slightly change my policy. I walked to the stationary store to buy a notebook, chose the favorite one, and make it as my ‘idea note.’ I wanted to hold those moments when sudden thoughts shot across my mind. Like a shooting star, they fade so easily and quickly without allowing me a time to remind. Since those thoughts are too precious to just let go, I always tried to write my lightning thoughts on my paper note or the memo pad application in my smartphone. Even during class time, – especially in the math class – I just write my abrupt thoughts in the corner of the math note. Similar thing – scribbling – happened while I am studying. Especially when I am memorizing something, I place a piece of paper right next to me – usually scratch paper – and scribble till the white paper turns into black. I sometimes just scribble some lines and shapes rather than the things I am memorizing, which makes me feel like becoming Jackson Pollock.

  With the ‘idea note,’ I became a better thinker. By visualizing my cascade of thoughts, I could organize the ideas by making them more solid and logical. Scribbling leads me to come up with something better, just as numerous streams of thoughts being joined to become an ocean. Most of all, it feels very refreshing to express myself freely whenever I want without minding others. Opening the scribble note feels like opening a Pandora’s box because I could face my ugly past thoughts besides the shining ideas hidden among the pages. Anyways, I open it when I have a thirst for good ideas and by just reading the random sentences, I got some good, sometimes brilliant ideas. The topic of this essay was decided in the same way, to be honest.

  My scribble note is everywhere. Now it became my actual habit to record my random thoughts, with any tools such as writing on a notebook, cellphone, or even on my hand. Recently, I started to share those in the form of facebook sub account posts. Maybe it means I became a little more confident about sharing my stories and ideas with others. I am not really sure about the influence this scribbling habit has upon me, but I convince that it definitely changed many things in my life. For me, scribbling is the simplest way to get the most sparkling ideas.