This article was supposed to be different. I had planned to journal every single morning for a week, then write about how my journaling experience went — I only journalled one morning. The next day, I woke up and plowed through my routine, not even thinking about jotting words into my journal. I was frustrated with myself for barely doing what I said I would, and I was shocked by how easy it was to forget.
I absolutely love the idea of journaling. In elementary and middle school I would journal almost every night, recounting my day and my feelings toward what was going on in my life. I remember sometimes dreading writing about my day because it felt tedious, but other times I was excited to think through my feelings. These journals are so fun to look back at now because I can read about memories and mental breakthroughs that would’ve otherwise stayed tucked away in the folds of my brain.
I’m not quite sure what made my journaling habit dwindle, but I’ve kept up with it here and there when I have a spare moment and I think about it. More recently, I’ve tried different ways of journaling that might not feel so difficult to do. Rather than writing down every detail of my day, I’d write about what I was grateful for or how I was feeling in general. Sometimes I would write lists or jot down words to form poetry. But I haven’t really found a groove.
Through this experience, I realized that getting into journaling could be made so much easier. My biggest difficulty was that it was hard to fit into my schedule, and I would often push it aside because it didn’t feel important enough. However, something that could easily fix this would be to put my journal somewhere I’ll see it right away. For me, I wanted to journal in the morning, so I should have put it on top of my makeup bag or directly on my nightstand. That way, as soon as I woke up or was in the midst of my routine, the journal would stare at me and remind me.
What happens if this doesn’t work, if I still forget or see my journal and decide to skip it? Then I should try to actually work it into my schedule, carving out time to write down my thoughts amidst everything else. This might look like telling myself that I’m going to journal for 10 minutes at 10 p.m. every day after I’m done with other daily demands. I could set an alarm or reminder to reinforce it, and once I do it enough, the habit will start to build. That time of night will just become journaling time and nothing else. Maybe then I can keep it up like I did when I was younger.
Finally, if these methods don’t work, I guess I will just have to buy myself a fun new journal and a new pen! I absolutely love fun stationary, and I think having a fresh journal and writing utensil would motivate me to use them. This isn’t to say that I’m going to buy a new notebook every time I want to be more excited about journaling (seriously, my full bookshelves told me I do not need a ton of new notebooks). However, I do believe that journaling is good for you and can help you learn more about yourself, and if buying a new journal and pen is the only thing that will make me excited, then I guess I’ll let the consumer in me win this time.
Journaling is a hobby that can be so beneficial in so many ways — you can process your feelings, save memories to look back on, or just get your complaints out. As our world is getting more and more digital, I think it’s important to return to physical hobbies that can help us get in touch with our humanness. Journaling is a great place to start, and even though it can feel difficult to keep up with, you just need to curate it to fit your own life and your own needs.