When I talk to people about journaling, I usually get a groan. They are either dreading the thought of writing, possibly stemming from a middle-school assignment assigned by a well-meaning English teacher. “I’m not good at writing” or “I don’t like to write” or “I’m not interested in writing about my day” are often the responses they voice. Sometimes the groan comes because they are intimidated by the beautifully styled journaling examples they see on Pinterest or social media. Skillfully drawn and exquisitely colored masterpieces are often in the bullet journal or art journal genre. “I’ve tried to bullet journal, but my handwriting is a mess” or “I can’t draw like that” or “I’ll mess it up” they say.
It’s a shame that so many have had bad experiences with journaling – myself included. But there have been times that journaling (in some form) has really helped me work through difficult feelings or get the myriad of disjointed ideas out of my head or let me explore a creative thought. Journaling can be cathartic, expressive, healing, inspiring, and even beautiful. It can also be messy and disorganized and, dare I say, ugly – and that’s okay!
The point of journaling is to get some of what’s inside of you out and onto a page. This can free up space in your head for more important and positive thoughts, especially if what you release is negative and nagging. Journaling can get half-baked ideas out in the open (even if only for your eyes) where those ideas can be played with on the page, potentially become fully developed or once and for all dismissed.
Journaling can be a way to play with “what if” – to experiment, to challenge oneself, to release your creative soul. There is no rule that states you must journal in a specific way. No one has to see your journal. It doesn’t even have to be a bound book! But it is an excellent way to clear out the cobwebs and dust bunnies taking up brain space so that Creativity (yes, capitalized, because she is an entity that lives within you), can flow freely out into the world.
I’ve written before about Creativity and how so many keep her locked away in their subconscious. But she wants to bring joy and positivity and beauty into the world. And journaling can help that happen.
There are many different ways to journal. Some involve writing and some do not. You can pick and choose the aspects you like from the various ways to come up with your own style of journaling. You might change how you journal over time (daily even, but more likely gradually). The idea is to experiment and to get what’s inside of you out and onto a page. What you do with those pages is up to you: burn them, save them, frame them, share them, hide them away forever. They are YOUR pages. There is no “right” way to journal, so relax and give it a try.
In upcoming posts, I will explore some of the different ways one can journal. Do you journal (you may call is something else)? If so, what type of journaling do you do?
