Yet Another Article About Journaling
(And how to stick with journaling when life gets in the way)
Journaling has become one of those practices that many writers, wellness gurus, and productivity mavens swear by. “It’s fantastic for self-care, understanding yourself and relieving stress, they say.”
Everyone talks about the magic of journaling like it’s some magic pill.
Okay, I get it.
The benefits of journaling sounded amazing, but sticking with the habit was unbearable
Who has time to sit by yourself in the corner and spill out all your thoughts and feelings onto a page that no one would ever read especially with the chaos of life happening all around you?
I would dive in firing on all cylinders — writing long, detailed entries on the most pristine of Moleskine notebooks (which I bought just for this sole purpose, along with a fancy pen which I designated “the journaling pen”.
Lo and behold, I kept this up for a grand total of two weeks until life got in the way and writing in my fancy journal becomes an afterthought.
“Why was I so shit at sticking with something? Maybe I’m just not cut out for this.”
Maybe you’ve felt like this before too.
I was doing it all wrong
I had these sky-high expectations of the experience of journaling.
Maybe some of this was brought on by all the #bujo stuff floating out there on Pinterest and Instagram. Some of these images made me wonder just how much time they spent putting their journals together.
Stuff like this:
Immaculate with some of the finest penmanship I’ve seen on the Internet, I started wondering why I couldn’t write or design as well as the journaling kings and queens.
Who even has time for that?
But, isn’t journaling just supposed to be for you?
By subconsciously comparing myself to other people’s ‘specially designed and formatted for social media’, wasn’t I losing the point of journaling?
Two barriers stood in my way to consistent journaling:
- I didn’t have time and the opportunity to write consistently
- I didn’t know what to write
Writing in a notebook all day was tiring, so I went electronic.
Never mind all the purists that say writing in a physical notebook was more therapeutic and healing for your soul.
Forget all the curated Pinterest images of beautiful journals. Every page doesn’t need its own color-coordinated washi tape, hand-drawn illustrations, and wonderful cursive penmanship.
I chose functionality over ‘Instagrammability’
I picked up the journaling app Day One for all my writing needs. It comes with mobile and desktop apps, so I can easily start an entry on my mobile phone and complete it on another device.
On top of that, it accepts photos and audio along with formatted text, giving me the flexibility to write anywhere I wanted — even from the subway or gasp, from the loo.
Oh well, whatever it takes, right?
So how about finding something to write about consistently?
I don’t know about you, but I find the blank page maddeningly intimidating.
When I wake up in the morning, my brain is blank.
Sometimes, I stare at my journal and tell myself “there’s nothing to write about”.
Looking for solutions, I stumbled upon the concept of integrating workflows with Day One by Jon Westfall which I’ve since modified to fit my means.
If you’re the sort that thrives on writing prompts and routine, this approach might just help you automate the most tedious part of getting started. It provides a set series of questions to populate each journal entry.
For example, I run my “Morning Gratitude Journal sequence every morning.
The sequence includes prompts like:
- Today I am feeling…
- Today I will do good by …
- What 3 things am I grateful for today?
It takes me less than 5 minutes to fill up and gives me the flexibility to be as detailed or as brief as I want to be. More importantly, I don’t need to think about what to write about every morning.
From this experience, I learned something about making a habit stick:
Start small.
Habits researcher and author of Atomic Habits James Clear has this to say about starting a new habit and making it stick:
“Rather than starting with 50 pushups per day, start with 5 pushups per day. Rather than trying to meditate for 10 minutes per day, start by meditating for one minute per day. Make it easy enough that you can get it done without motivation.”
For me in finding a workable solution to stick with journaling, making it easy means:
- Making it easy to write anytime, anywhere (Day One works on mobile and desktop)
- Conquering the tyranny of the blank page through automated writing prompts:
As we head into 2019, New Year Resolutions are rife with crazy goals and lofty ambitions.
But no, I’ve learned that sometimes, it’s the unsexy solutions that make you stick with something for the long haul.
As we think about how we want to approach 2019 and what new routines we’re going to build, remember to start small, but be consistent in your approach.
