I’ve been journaling for about 3 years now, and it’s probably one of the best things I’ve decided to do in my life. Journaling is pretty much very cheap therapy. It’s a place to sort out your emotions and dump your thoughts. Plus, you can pretty much do whatever the hell you want to do in it- you can draw, you can curse out people- there aren’t really any laws in journal territory. You can even rip up your journal if you want, although that might be a waste of your money if you haven’t used it. Idea: if you get scared of doing whatever you want in there (due to nosy people), after you use it- burn it. Seriously, it’s about the process, not the result, although the result is really nice to look back on memories, so I suggest you don’t actually burn it after use. Just find good hiding spots if you have a nosy family or roommates.
Like I said, there’s literally no rules to using a journal, it’s a lawless land- it’s the purge but in a book And with this purge book, you can very easily get scared of actually doing what you want to do. Or even worse, you don’t even know what you want to do. Well, you’re really lucky, cause that’s why I’m writing this OPTIONAL essay thing (well more like an article, but yeah). I’ll give you some tips with each problem you might face with journaling.
Now, before we get started, repeat after me:
Avoiding cringe is pointless.
Ok, now you say it:
(Avoiding cringe is pointless)
Ok, good. There is no point in trying to write or do stuff in a way that will hide things that could possibly be seen as cringey in the future. The cringiness is a part of reading back old stuff that everyone has to go through- you’re not special. Old versions of you will always in some way be cringey, it’s the same with everyone. So, instead of trying to seem cool in your journal, write the real, actual awkward things you think of and feel. It’s not like anyone is going to read this journal except for you (unless you’re a bad hider/destroyer), so you might as well just try to be the most real you can with it. Ok, now that we’ve got that idea straight, I’ll give you some tips and helpful stuff.
1. Pencil Smudges and Floral Notebooks
Let me tell you one thing- as fun as this actual journaling process is, it’s really the supplies that get most people excited. It’s ok, it’s not nerdy to be excited about using a cute notebook (it is a little, but it’s ok, lots of people feel the same way). For me, I get very, very excited over starting a new journal- actually starting a new journal almost gives me motivation to finish the one I’m using. Finish this journal, and you get to use that cool Bob Dylan notebook you got from Target !!
So, definitely have fun with choosing what you want to journal with, especially because choosing something that you like will probably make you want to use it more. I don’t have many tips for choosing materials, because everyone has their own tastes and opinions, but I can give a few suggestions:
- Pen or Pencil: I really suggest using a pen if you’re not planning to destroy your journal in a fire after use. Pencil can fade over the years, so using a pen could be helpful (Also if you want a pen suggestion: try a Pilot G2 0.5/0.38). If you make mistakes, you can use white out, but I think it’s nice to keep the mistakes in to look back at. For drawings or other situations where you need to, you can use a pencil, but try using a mechanical, rather than a wood one.
- Online: Some people can’t do the whole pencil-paper thing, and that’s totally ok too. Journaling digitally has its conveniences and its setbacks. It’s easy to take anywhere you go, but it limits what you’re really able to do. If you need some apps or websites to use for online journaling I really recommend Evernote, or Day 1.
- High Prices: Of course, most people can’t and won’t buy very expensive journals and materials, which I think makes sense, especially if you’re just starting. More expensive notebooks are nice, but lower priced ones work literally just the same. It’s just some binded paper my dude. If you’re just starting journaling, try getting a less expensive one, and when you need to buy your next one, if you want, you can buy a more expensive one.
- Pages: MAKE SURE YOU GET THE RIGHT AMOUNT OF PAGES THAT FITS WHAT YOU NEED OH MY LORD. Literally the biggest tip I could give someone. When people buy notebooks with 600 pages, they can get stressed out over how they could ever fill it all up. With small, 50 paged ones, people try to save the pages for when they can write or do ‘interesting’ things in it. Find a balance between it, get something that you can handle and afford. I think for most people 200-300 pages is a good average, but some people might need more or less. Also, make sure you get a good sized notebook too (8 by 11 is most common)- do a size that can let you take it everywhere.
2. First Page Drama
Writers and artists and journalers and poets and literally ANYONE who uses notebooks knows the struggle of the first page. For some reason, everyone has the idea that the first page in your notebook or sketchbook needs to be perfect, or impressive. Remember, this whole notebook is going to be one cringey, great mess, so it doesn’t matter if the messiness starts on page 1. One thing you can do though is writing an intro on the first page, if you don’t know what to write or do immediately. Introduce yourself, spit out some fun facts, just let the inanimate object you’re writing in get to know you. Another thing you can do that I learned from my dad- just skip the first page. Just start on the second page, and one day, when you’re feeling really brave after watching Bob Ross paint trees, you can try acing that first page. Of course, I don’t have this silly, peasant ‘1 page’ problem, because everything I write is absolutely perfect.
3. Good Content 24/7
One problem that people can have with journaling is that they have no idea how to actually journal. What makes it worse for these poor people is the fact that there is no correct way to journal, so all of their googling just confuses them more. As I said, there’s no correct way to journal, and you really just have to figure out what works for you. If you have no creativity and are 100% stumped, here’s a few ideas:
- Write whatever’s happening in your life!! This can be daily, weekly, or whenever something interesting happens (*more on how many times you should write later*)
- Art Journaling- or drawing whatever is happening in your day. Got a cup of coffee, draw your Starbucks cup with your little metal straw. Draw all the turtles you saved too.
- Dream Journaling – This works the best if you journal RIGHT after you wake up. You’ll get some really funky stuff out.
- Journaling for Health – If you’re on some kind of diet/exercise thing/whatever whatever, you can keep track of that that in a journal.
- Have a whole gossip book (especially good for bad secret-keepers; jus stick ’em in the book)
- Make a mood board book; use pictures from pinterest, washi tape, the whole deal. Plus, it looks pretty aesthetic at the end.
4. Good Content 24/7: The Itty Bitty Fun Stuff
In part 1 of this section, I gave more broad, whole-book, kind of ideas. Now, I’m going to give you some fun prompts you can do in between your normal routine; just to spice it up a little.
- Write what you’re grateful for
- Make a bucket list
- Write the current songs/movies/shows/other things you’re indulging; I think the stuff you enjoy really reflects how you feel and it’s look back on
- Throwback and write about a random memory you remember
- Write a letter to someone- kinda like a whole To All The Boys situation; but you don’t actually have to accidentally send it.
If you go on the internet, there’s probably even more journaling ideas and prompts that you can use to add a little flavor every once in a while in your journal, especially on Pinterest (if you haven’t noticed Pinterest is a god-send for journaling).
5. Your Very Busy Schedule or Your Very Lazy Butt
Not everyone has a lot of time to journal, with busy schedules full of work, school and other mishaps. And some people may have all the time in the world, but they’re just too lazy to do it. That’s okay. Journaling routines vary depending on how much time you have and how much you want to even do it. Here are some common routines I’ve heard of:
- Morning and Night Pages – stream of consciousness/journal for 30 minutes every morning and night. (maybe you can even record your dreams this way too)
- Daily Journaling (The Basic One) – Writing down what you’ve done every single day for 30 min – 1 hr.
- Throughout the Day – As soon as you think of something or do something cool, you take the time to write it down in a minute or two.
- Monthly Recaps – This’ll take forever and it’s my least favorite because it can’t get too specific I feel like because you forget stuff, but again, up to you.
- No Schedule At All Just Whenever Something Interesting Happens Or When You’re Emotional – This is what I do, because I’m not lazy and I like journaling and I don’t have a boring life!
Journaling is genuinely such a beneficial thing to your focus, your creativity, your mental well-being, etc. etc. so I’m always so excited to talk about it and recommend it to people. It’s just a fun thing to do that’s proven to have positive results for a lot of people. It’s nice to have a written history of your entire life, you can really go back and see how much you’ve grown/changed throughout the years.
Anyway, that’s pretty much all the tips I have in me right now. Maybe I’ll do a part 2 if I think of more things.