Why You Should Start Journaling
I feel like most of us have attempted to keep a diary at some point in our lives. Growing up, I was always obsessed with the idea of keeping a journal; I don’t know why I guess it just felt like a right of passage.
Even before I had anything to write about, I would sit and write in my diary. I suppose it was the closest I got to have an imaginary friend. But more often than not, I would get bored, pick up a new pretty journal and start the process all over again. I convinced my parents to buy me a secret diary, which rarely opened at the sound of my voice and spent an absurd amount of money on pretty notebooks I nearly never completed.
Then as I moved into High School and got overloaded with spots, stupid drama and hormones, I unsurprisingly opted to bring back my journaling; I was a lot better at it this time. Still took me a while to finish my journals, but it made me feel better about my teenage angst.
I don’t want to spend too long on the nostalgia. I feel like my point has been made. No matter how old you are, journaling is a welcomed tool for people who wish to process their thoughts and emotions.
I don’t use my diary to moan and groan about childish dramas anymore. If I’m honest, I think I’m a bit too old to have any of those. Since lockdown began, I started to look for ways I could evolve into a more successful individual. I think it was a mix of a quarter-life crisis and a coping mechanism for the current state of the world. So journaling has evolved into a productivity tool for me. As well as carefully documenting my time in lockdown, I’ve been using it as a way to set achievable goals for myself.
As a result, I’ve managed to do a few things during a lockdown:
I’ve quit vaping
Reached my weight loss goals
Got this blog off the ground
Started an Etsy store which made £200 in its first week
And there’s probably a few others I’m neglecting to mention. But if I hadn’t put my mind to it, I would not have been able to manifest these things for myself.
So why doesn’t everyone journal all the time? Surely if it’s such an amazing supportive tool, then everyone would use it! Well not everyone is wise to the ways that journaling can help you be productive, so I thought I’d tell you!
Helps you reflect on your day
Life throws all sorts of things at you, and I’m a firm believer that you’ve got to take a minute to sit and reflect on these things.
It helps you understand why they happened, if there was any way, you could prevent it and what exactly your next steps are.
However, this doesn’t just mean you need to focus on the negatives all the time. Journaling is the perfect opportunity to measure your growth as a person and as a professional in the world.
Some time ago, I discussed the idea of a positivity loop; I recommend checking my post on that out as it’s a fabulous method forfending your pitfalls and still staying positive.
It helps you find peace.
Life is stressful. It’s essential to take a little bit of time to relax and ground yourself with everything going on in the world. I find that journaling is perfect for this.
Don’t forget; journaling can be whatever you like; perhaps you want to decorate your entries with intricate watercolour. Maybe you want to make bullet points, or maybe you want to describe your day in the form of poetry. It’s whatever you want it to be, and the process of creating your entry for the day can be incredibly calming. I recommend it!
Practice your writing
I used to be a bloody horrible writer. Reading back on old blog posts and assignments makes me cringe, I’m surprised I got any traffic at all! Journaling is the perfect safe space for you to nurture your writing skills and find a style that’s classic for you.
I found that journaling helped me find my voice. Regardless of how I write, I’ve always been quite a chatty and bubbly person. But that often didn’t come across in my work, which would drive me batty!
Over time, with a combination of daily journaling, blogging and a writing course helped me become an articulate and passionate person.
Plan for success
I’ll be honest, I can not think of one valid reason for not journaling. It’s an excellent way to invest your time and can lead to really great internal and external development.
One of the joys of journaling is that it can be entirely dependant on you and how you want to spend that time. You could bullet journal, art journal or just write to your content. It’s your creative space and your safe space, so make sure it exactly how you want it.