Journaling
I hear people say all the time “I don’t get it, how does journaling or writing things down help me to feel better??!”.
Another thing people tell me is this: “I’m not someone who sits down and writes my inner thoughts, I prefer to listen to podcasts or read books”.
Now I’m not saying reading books or listening to podcasts or any other activity is a bad thing because it absolutely isn’t!!!
But when it comes to building awareness and understanding your own mind journaling is one of the most amazing tools you can have in your toolkit. And one other thing – it’s free!! You don’t need any fancy stationery at all despite what your brain may tell you. All you need is a notepad and pen or pencil.
Journaling is a very powerful tool that can seem almost too good to be true.
But what is it? Like what is it really?
Well, it’s the process of writing down whatever you are thinking and allowing yourself to explore on the paper wherever your mind chooses to go.
Now this isn’t to be confused with keeping a diary. A diary is a log of what you did with your day such as “I had breakfast before heading to work. I had a meeting at 10am then had lunch with friends” or something like that – I just made this up to give you an example.
I’ve experimented with both over the past 10 years. I still keep a diary for special moments such as holidays and weddings and special events that I want to keep photos from. This feeds into my memory keeping process.
Journaling is more an exploration of the mind – you can talk about future dreams, write lists, stick in photos and quotes and really reflect on how things make you feel. I like to use my journal to explore every part of my life – the good the not so good and the downright challenging days when things feel depressing. There is no emotion or topic that is off limit when it comes to my journal. It’s a mirror to my heart and soul and I don’t ever censor what goes into it. I also tell my family and friends that should they choose to read my journals then they do so at their own risk.
Examples of things I’ve written in journals before:
“I’m really looking forward to Christmas, it’s been so long since I spent proper time with family what with lockdown rules and isolation that I miss the laughter, the smiles and the general mischief of spending time with family in person”
“I don’t understand people sometimes, am I doing something wrong? I really try to be a decent human being but sometimes no matter what I do people seem to judge me and put me in a box”
“I am TIRED, like full on, zero energy left in the tank tired, I don’t think coffee at 4am was a great idea but it’s done now. At least tomorrow will be a great night’s sleep after the caffein wears off lol”
“The call with Gretta was really fun, I absolutely love mindset work and getting to explore the model and how it plays out in my day to day life” I love coaching, absolutely love it, having my own coach is just a bonus and being part of ABA is like an absolute dream.
“I’m looking forward to watching Neighbours later, it’s 20 minutes of heaven in my day and I love that my siblings watch it too. Talking of siblings, we all love playing wordle and it’s honestly a huge highlight of my day. I love the concept of the game – it’s so simple and yet so impactful – I feel like the best things in life are .
Looking to get started with journaling?
Here are some things you will need:
1. A nice pen – I say nice pen for a reason – it needs to be comfortable and write smoothly. Whether it’s a fountain pen, biro, gel pen or any kind of pen; it needs to be something that makes writing comfortable and easy to maintain. Nice does NOT however mean expensive so I just want to clear that misconception out.
2. A notebook or notepad – when you’re first starting out a simple pad of paper will do. You want to build a rhythm of writing. Once writing is habit then you can branch out and try fancy notebooks. The key is to feel connected to writing. In the beginning fancy notebooks can be intimidating and lead you to not write freely
3. A timer or stopwatch – this will help you maintain a set time during which to write. Try to be strict about start and stop times when you first get going. This prevents allowing you to go down a rabbit hole and stay in negative or painful emotions for longer than necessary. I also advise not using your phone as a timer as this can become a distraction if you are tempted to look at it.
4. A dedicated space to write – I use my office desk and like to keep my journal on the top of my books to remind me to write daily. Keeping a designated space where you journal will help you to be consistent with journaling.
Some fun extras you can experiment with once you get used to journaling & it becomes an ingrained habit.
1. Stickers – as a planner lover I always have stickers and sticker kits lying around. Instead of feeling guilty to use them or waiting for the right time to use them I like to use them in my journal. I create colourful spreads that serve the purpose of bringing my joy when I look at them. It’s sort of like having my own quote to look at and I love the feeling of accomplishment I get from writing a quote, adding stickers, and making the page look colourful. It reminds me that I can be creative whenever I like.
2. Art pens – like tombow brush pens or Zig color dot markers – are great for calligraphy and creating colourful spreads (a spread being a page layout)
3. Washi tape – technically a sticker but it comes in rolls and I use these to create page borders and separate entries. It helps to jazz things up and I love how it lifts a page and brings it to life. I use washi tape for a lot of different things from planner pages to journaling to my goal planner and even sticking post-it-notes to the fridge door. It’s a very versatile product!
4. Music – I love to have background music to set the mood and lately I’ve been enjoying instrumental gong music. It creates a very meditative atmosphere and I find I do my absolutely best writing to songs that don’t have words.
5. Journaling cards or postcards – I like to keep these around to inspire my mind to dream and not give up on dreaming. A simple way to create your own journaling cards is to print off your favourite quote and stick it to the back of a postcard. That’s a homemade journaling card right there!
I hope you enjoyed this post. If you don’t journal at the moment and are tempted to try it out I’d love to know how you got on.
If you do journal I would love to know your favourite thing about journaling and what drew you to it in the first place?
I’ll see you in the next post!