Why I journal
When you journal, you ‘live’ your life multiple times:
- In the moment
- Capturing it on paper
- Every time you re-read and reflect
As a child I kept a diary, as a teenager I used Livejournal, and these days I treasure my hand-written journals. I thought I’d share some of the reasons why I love to journal (with a few photos of my journals), in the hope that folks will share theirs too!
- Journalling helps me to focus. It helps me to make sense of my thoughts, spot patterns and connections, and clears all of the clutter out of my head.
- Journalling helps me to see how much I’ve grown, and where I’m heading towards. It shows me the ‘golden threads’ in my life; what I’m passionate about, what my purpose is, what my skills, strengths and areas to improve on are.
- I jot down happy moments that become memories, so I can relive them over and over.
- It makes me more self aware, helps me to practice mindfulness, reduces my anxiety and is a big part of my self care practice.
- I use my journal to collect others ideas to build on and make sure that I always give credit to the right folks (otherwise I’ll want to use a quote, have no idea where I’ve got it from, and choose not to)
- I set and track goals and habits through my journal.
- It facilitates my personal, professional and spiritual journey.
- Journalling helps me to ensure that I have creativity in my life.
- Like the magpies I adore, I use my journal to collect anything and everything — ticket stubs, quotes that inspire me, magazine cuttings, bright colours, lettering. I create mood boards within the pages to inspire new ideas.
- It helps me to be grateful for everything I have, and everything I am.
All in all, it’s just something I do for me to bring joy into my life. I don’t do it for a set reason, I don’t put pressure on myself. There are days I’ll fill pages and pages of my journal, there are days I can go without writing anything at all. My journal is absolutely not a streamlined, minimalist bullet journal style [Jeni’s are a thing of wonder, and I love the visualisations and sketch notes Lucy Knight does] — my journals are organised chaos, like me.
The journals I use are by a brand called Nuuna and I buy them from Amazon in the large size. I write with Pilot supergel rollerball 0.7s in black ink and fineliner colouring pens. And I use far too many stickers from Paperchase.
Some journalling articles/resources:
- ‘Wreck this journal’
- The 1,000 journals project
- https://austinkleon.com/tag/notebooks/
- https://chapmancommunityoutreach.wordpress.com/2015/03/01/lynda-barry-on-keeping-a-diary/
- https://www.twentysomethingmeltdown.com/blog/?category=Bullet+Journal
- ‘5 second journal’
- https://www.bookprof.com/5-second-journal-review/
Some photos of my journals:
Does anyone else journal? Fancy sharing your process/photos? ❤
