Instead of dealing with our stress head-on, we tend to either eat our feelings, drink more coffee & vodka sodas than we should, or binge watch a TV series that requires no thinking (or in my case, all 3). Although this may seem harmless at first, this workshop helped me realize that these are only temporary fixes and that there are far more productive and healthier ways of relieving stress, and journaling is one of them.
On February 1st, as I was scrolling through my Facebook feed, I came across the first-ever Vent Over Tea and Her Campus writing therapy event page. Journaling wasn’t something I had ever tried before, let alone in a public space with strangers (I must be a millennial or something). However, I decided to push myself outside my comfort zone and purchased a ticket to their workshop. After all, the journals and pens were provided by the event so all anyone really had to do what show up and keep an open mind—this was a nice touch on the organizer’s behalf.
Going into the event, I decided that I would try my best to soak up as much information as I could from the facilitators, Claire & Clara. The workshop was split into 3 different sections: stress relief, positivity, and problem-solving. Sometimes participating in a large group can be intimidating. However, the facilitators made sure to create a safe space by sharing personal anecdotes that helped break the ice. This allowed people to eventually join in with their own thoughts, experiences, and opinions. Mindful journaling may seem self-explanatory, but many don’t know the benefits or where to begin. Claire & Clara were conscious of this and made sure to guide us through each exercise, step by step. They also gave us examples and writing prompts that helped us put our pens to paper.
For the section on stress relief, we did a “mind dumping” exercise. This activity allowed us to write freely without worrying about grammar, spelling, style or editing. I found that writing quickly for 5 minutes was hard because I am so used to carefully choosing my words when writing. However, it was nice for a change, to just rant about nonsense and not worry about what grade I was going to receive at the end of all.
The activity for the section on positivity required us to write out the pros and cons of being ourselves. We often focus on the negative aspects of our lives. This activity served as a reminder of the things we were already good at and what things we could improve on. I found that this activity helped me find balance. I am easily my biggest critic but this activity helped me remember that even small accomplishments are worth celebrating.
The activity for the section on problem-solving asked us to think of a problem, Write it down, and pretend that it wasn’t our problem. Instead, this problem belonged to a friend. Our task was to come up with advice we would give them. This activity’s goal was to help us be objective with our problem. Personally, I did not like this activity because I found that it encouraged the “what if” mindset. I often over-analyze situations and jump to conclusions so inventing different scenarios was not helpful. Instead, I would recommend trying to teach participants how to accept that not everything is in your control.
This workshop was designed to help individuals obtain benefits similar to therapy, without the cost and stress some associate with it. I believed it accomplished this goal as participants expressed at the end of the workshop that the activities helped them put things in perspective and stay grounded. Additionally, all the activities were simple and easy to remember. This way, we could try them again on our own.
My only main critique of the event was the venue. Kafein is a local coffee shop in Montreal that doubles as a bar in the evening. This meant that you could hear JCole playing in the background, which was distracting and made it challenging to find inner peace and clarity while journaling. I would have recommended scheduling the event earlier in the day before the venue turned into a bar. This would create a more cohesive environment in light of the objectives of the workshop. Despite the disruption, Clara and Claire remained positive and spoke loud enough so that we could clearly hear them.
After the event, I interviewed the moderators and asked them how they prepared themselves for the workshop. They told me that they originally met up a month before the event to discuss the objectives and determine what activities they would include in their workshop. They also informed me that they rehearsed their workshop in front of other Vent Over Tea volunteers to get feedback and work out the kinks of their workshop, such as time management and transitions.
Clara has an education background and Claire has a psychology background, so they complemented each other nicely and made it a joy to watch them play off of each other. Clara knew what teaching styles to use to get the crowd engaged. Claire knew a lot about the benefits of journaling and was able to share them with the participants. Whenever one of them said something that seemed a little unclear, the other would step in to clarify. More specifically, they paid close attention to our facial expressions and whenever they noticed someone who looked a little confused, they would try explaining the activity in a different way and used concrete examples on how to perform the activity.
Their efforts and dedication to the success of the workshop resulted in a clear agenda and smooth transitions between each activity. I found that there was enough time between each section, which helped me be more productive, confident, and relaxed throughout the evening. There was also breaks allocated between each section so that people could refill on coffee and tea.
Overall, this workshop was vibrant, constructive, and engaged its audience—I didn’t see a single person take out their phone to look at the time or respond to a text (something most professors can only dream of accomplishing)! I would highly recommend anyone interested in this topic to follow Vent Over Tea and Her Campus on Facebook for future workshops. You might end up pleasantly surprised by the results.
Check out this report card I made below to summarize:
Activities: 7/10
Organization: 9/10
Location: 6/10
Moderators: 10/10
Overall experience: 8/10
Coffee & Vodka Sodas 