I recently moved houses, and in going through all my old books and items to either keep or throw away, I noticed something. There were SO many notebooks. There were notebooks, journals, diaries, you name it. Literally none of them were full and most of them had only a few pages used. I’m someone who has always loved the idea of a journal or diary. In movies and television shows the girls had them, and I just loved the idea of one day being able to look back on what I was doing or thinking on a particular day in time. However, I always had this idea in my head of what it should be. I should write every day, my handwriting should be neat, and I should write absolutely everything I could remember about the day so I’d be able to keep every single memory forever. That never really worked out for me, since writing everything about everyday can get super time consuming and become more of a chore. This year, however, I started college. I decided I was going to try this journal thing once again as a way to follow my transition through my first year. And this time, it’s working! Here are some things I believe that have made my journaling more fit for the long run.
- Nix the Writing Schedule
-
The most cumbersome part about writing in my journal when I was younger was forcing myself to write every single day. If I missed a day, or several, I felt as if I had already failed and that I should just give up on having a journal at all. I didn’t really see a point in having a journal if it wasn’t every day. However, I’m here to remind you (and myself) that journaling is for YOU. It’s not homework- you don’t have deadlines or due dates for writing entries. If you go through my current journal, most of my writing is at least a month apart. I’d forget about it, not have much to say, etc., so I wouldn’t use it. I learned to use it for myself: write in it when I had time, when I had thoughts that needed to be worked out on paper, or when I had a really good day. Getting rid of the self-imposed writing schedule releases the pressure on writing and makes it easier to enjoy the actual process.
- A Journal is Not a Scrapbook
-
As you all can probably tell, I’m a sentimental person. I want to remember every good day I’ve had and certainly every detail about that day. It’s a way of holding on to the feeling forever. However, not every day is like that. It’s going to be okay if you forget you had something delicious for lunch on a random Tuesday in November. Don’t pressure yourself into writing your life’s history. Instead, wait for the really super awesome days or experiences. And even then, don’t write about exactly where you sat at the concert or details like what you wore. Instead, write about how you felt. Write about what exactly about that day was awesome, or if you’re writing to let your emotions out, what made it so bad. These are the details you want to capture, not the things you could do with forgetting.
- You’re Not Writing For An Audience
-
Finally, as has been the underlying theme for all of these ideas, write for yourself. Try to stop thinking about somebody else, including your future self, reading this. The journal may be cool to look back on one day, but right now it’s for you to think, to record, to use. I like to write in a way that almost allows me to forget that I’m writing; just write your thoughts as they appear. This can take practice, but allowing yourself to be free of your own judgement and free of restrictions like grammar can allow writing in your journal to be not only liberating but also really fun.
I hope all of you are able to take these tips to heart so that you can start journaling in a way that is fun and a way to relieve stress. Journaling is a tool, so let’s use it!