I’ve been an avid journaler for about four years, but before that, I had only ever done it when I felt particularly creatively inspired. Now, I regularly journal 3-4 times a week. Since I’ve developed a long-term journaling habit, I’ve been able to see the benefits of my practice. This article will outline some tips for how to start journaling and maintain a regular practice and offer some reflections on the benefits I’ve seen from the routine.
Tips for Starting
- Get a journal that makes you excited to write
I love to write by hand and prefer writing in Moleskine notebooks. I’ve begun to buy the same journal in different colors so that I can color-code the seasons of my life—green for a time of growth, pink for a time of fun, yellow for a time of joy. The idea of chronicling my life in color excites me and prompts me to write.
Decide for yourself whether a blank journal or a journal with prompts would be best for you. Places like Wonder Fair in Lawrence have a great variety of journals with different themes and templates to get you thinking introspectively.
- Don’t judge yourself
The most essential part of my journaling practice was giving myself grace. It doesn’t matter if you make spelling mistakes or if your writing isn’t polished. Think of your journal as a place to dump out all your thoughts on the page. They don’t have to flow beautifully or even make sense to anyone but you. This is a place for you to dwell on things and dive into emotions you feel like no one understands.
Don’t put pressure on yourself to journal for a certain amount of time or a certain number of times per week. Find time to write even if it’s just 5 minutes before class starts or 15 minutes on your lunch break or 20 minutes before bed. The more you do it, the more you’ll want to do it. So when you’re starting out, have your journal handy and try not to think that you don’t have enough time to start. A couple paragraphs a week is a great start.
- Keep it around you
Bring your journal with you everywhere you go. Journal at the library, at a coffee shop, while you’re waiting for an oil change. Try to resist the urge to scroll on your phone and write in your journal instead. You never know when you might feel inspired or have the time, so keep your journal handy.
- Start by observing
One of the best ways for me to start a journal entry is by simply observing my surroundings. “I’m sitting in my bed by the window. It’s dreary outside and we haven’t seen the sun in days…” Sitting in a busy place like a coffee shop or library always gets me thinking about who I am in relation to others and keeps me curious about the human experience. These types of observations are often the key to unlocking my feelings about what has been going on that day or that week. Write down the feelings that come up for you, but try not to judge them too harshly. Trace back where the feeling is coming from and let yourself write about it in a stream of consciousness. No justification, totally unfiltered. This style of writing often leads me to deeper fears, desires, and insecurities lying beneath my day-to-day feelings.
- Think of it as a personal record
I’ve always been inspired by people of the past who kept journals. A journal is proof of existence, that you’ve really lived. Even in the mundane and the routine, my journal has been a place to express my loud inner world on the page. Record your feelings and experiences so you can look back on your life from the future.
- Write for yourself
Write for your future self. Not for an imaginary person who’s going to read your journal 100 years from now. You don’t have to provide context for your entire life or every situation, you aren’t writing a novel. Write so that you can look back on your life and see how you’ve changed. Write so that you can look back on your life and know how you felt at a particular moment in time. Write so you can learn more about yourself, your feelings, and your experiences.
Benefits of Journaling
- More realistic view of my life
If you’re a person prone to nostalgia like I am, keeping a journal may be a great habit for you. I tend to look back on the past with rose-colored glasses, which can get in the way of my ability to live in the present. But now that I’ve been journaling for years, I’m able to re-read past entries and know that even the years or months that I think of as the best times of my life still had issues and conflict and hardship. On the flip side, the times that I think of as bad years are still filled with many moments of joy and love and friendship.
- Better writing and communication
My professional and creative writing has undoubtedly gotten better the more I’ve journaled. Writing is a muscle, and the more you use it, the stronger you get! Journaling regularly has also made me less likely to succumb to writer’s block when I write for school or work. I’m more willing to put words on a page and edit later than wait for the perfect inspiration to strike. Journaling takes a degree of discipline that has helped me in other aspects of my life, such as professional writing.
Writing about my feelings and observations have made me more thoughtful and better able to communicate how I’m feeling to other people. If I’ve written about my feelings, it’s much easier to discuss them with friends or family or a partner. I’m more able to release my feelings into the ether once I journal, rather than fixating on something for long periods of time.
Journaling is an ongoing practice and has many benefits even if you aren’t consistent at first. The more you write, the better you’ll feel. Give yourself grace and let the words flow.
