A Successful Guide to Start Journaling

Journaling is something I never expected myself doing. Although I’ve heard about how helpful and relaxing it can be, I am so forgetful and busy. As a result, simple tasks like journaling seem to take the back burner. However, one day as I was strolling through my local target, as one does, a journal caught my attention. 

The cover read “Today is a good day to have a good day,” and along the side of the pages, it read “Do what you love, love what you do.” These are two quotes I’ve loved my whole life. So, I knew I had to buy it.

Originally, I wanted to use the journal to track my freshman year on campus at Emmanuel College. Like people say ‘college is the best 4 years of your life,’ so why wouldn’t I want something to look back on? Unfortunately, due to COVID, and like many other events, my freshman year was moved online. 

Still, I wanted to be able to look back on my first semester and remember the highs and lows of ‘Zoom University.’ 

I started my journal August 26,, the first day classes started virtually. Today, as I am writing this it is October 5. I’ve been journaling for a total of 40 days. My journaling has changed a lot over the past 40 days but I hope to share a few tips and tricks to help you avoid some of my pitfalls. 

So, I bet you’re asking yourself, what even is journaling? Well my answer to that is: journaling is different for everyone, but for me journaling is a summary of my day and some emotions I felt. Doing this at the end of my day moments before I go to bed not only helps me wind down, but it also provides me a period of time to reflect on my day, and myself. After all, if I want to be the best version of myself, why wouldn’t I reflect on who I am now and focus on ways I can improve myself. 

In my journal, I like to write a full page about my day, every day. I write the day in the top corner of the page so I can look back to specific days later on. I start off my journal entries with a general statement, summarizing my day or how I feel in the moment. A few examples from my direct journal are:

• “Wow, such a busy day!” 

• “TGIF!” 

• “Monday’s done!”

• “Whatta day!” 

This allows me to vocalize how I feel my overall day went and helps steer me into my writing. After that I typically go into the run through of my day. Perhaps how my classes went or how work went. An example of this from my journal is:

“Today I had three classes: recent moral issues, education, and biology. They all went well and then I had an hour which I worked on the english intro and conclusion. I was so focused on that I missed the first 20 minutes of my academic advisor meeting. Oops!” 

In my short example, I listed what classes I had and how I felt they went. I mentioned some work I did and how I was late to a meeting—I acknowledged this with an oops because I didn’t want to beat myself up over being focused on school work! Typically, this is the longest section of my journal. 

I like to then focus on any emotions I felt that day, whether happiness or stress. From this, I ask myself why I felt that way and what I wished I did instead. An example of this from my journal could be:

“… I’m so upset with myself for wasting this entire day. I wish I did my school stuff so tomorrow I could just relax ….” 

In this example, I touched upon the idea that I was upset with myself (emotion), because I felt that I wasted my day being unproductive (gave the reason why I felt that emotion), and that I wished I did my schoolwork (wrote what I wished I did instead). This allows me to acknowledge what happened, to then validate my feelings, and to take note of where I can grow or how to handle this better in the future. 

After that if I still have space on the page I like to mention something I am looking forward to in the future or maybe tasks I have to do tomorrow. This allows me to have a look forward in my week and mentally prepare myself for anything coming up. Some examples from my journal are:

• “I don’t have work till Thursday and Friday so once again I’m off tomorrow”

• “One day this week I want to go to Target with Abby for Halloween decorations” 

• “I can’t wait to put up my Halloween decorations this weekend, it’s going to get so spooky”

• “Tomorrow I have a Recent Moral Issues exam, yikes!”

For me, if I am at the end of the page I typically sign off with the same saying “That’s all!” and then I sign my name. And that is my typical journal entry. 

It takes me about 5-10 minutes to write my entries. 

Now, I want to touch upon a few tips! 

1. In my journal grammar does NOT matter! 

   I don’t want to waste time making my journal perfect. Instead, I want my thoughts to flow out onto the page naturally. I recommend this method to everyone! 

2. Be honest!

   This journal is for you and you only! There is no point in having a journal if you are going to lie in it and claim every day was a good one! Don’t sugar coat it, it’s okay to have bad days and it’s important to validate those feelings too!

3. Keep your journal in a good place!

   For me, I keep my journal on my desk. That way as I sign off the computer for the day, I can take a moment to write in my journal. Sometimes, I even move my journal next to my phone charger, that way before I go to sleep I remember to journal. Keeping your journal in a good place helps you remember to journal and stay consistent!

4. Let yourself have this moment.

   When you are journaling, it is YOU time! As I journal, I keep my phone in the other room and use this time to reflect on myself! 

5. Allow your journal to be a work in progress.

   As you start off, you may not be satisfied with your entries—I know I felt my entries were boring. Allow yourself to stick with journaling long enough to develop as a writer and learn what you want to specifically focus on in your entries!

Why do I journal? 

• I journal because I want to take a pause in my busy day and reflect. 

• I journal because I want to become the best version of myself. 

• I journal because it calms me. 

• I journal because it validates my feelings. 

• I journal because I want to be able to look back on my college days in the future. 

I journal…. and so should you!

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