One of the goals that I had for myself this year was to get back into the habit of journaling each day. The mental health benefits of journaling are well documented, but I’m not getting into that in this post. Going into this year, I knew that I was going to need a tool to help me navigate the big life changes coming my way and the emotions that go alongside that. Unfortunately, I wasn’t consistent throughout the year with my journaling practice. I’d write here and there – usually when I was upset or angry about something. Toward the end of the third quarter, I started to ask myself why I couldn’t stay committed. This wasn’t a question that was answered quickly and took quite a bit of thought to come to a conclusion. I’ll touch on these answers below and give you tips based on key things that made a huge difference for me in staying committed and consistent to my journaling practice.
Side note: As of the date of this post, I’m happy to report that today is day 82 of consecutive journaling and I’m really excited to hit the 90 day threshold next week!
1. Choose a notebook you enjoy writing in
This may sound really obvious at first glance, but stay with me. If you’re annoyed by the paper that you’re working with – you won’t use your journal. Sounds simple, right? Let’s dig a little deeper. If you’re new to the journaling/planner community, you might not know that there are an astonishing number of paper types out there. I could write several blog posts on paper selection and barely scratch the surface. For now, I’ll keep this high-level. I’ll preface this with saying that the answers to these questions could look very different for you as journaling preferences are highly individualized.
If you don’t like the way the paper feels when writing or if the color of the pages hurts your eyes, choose a different paper. Play around with options to see what’s best for you. For example, I am obsessed with using white Tomoe river paper. This is a fountain pen friendly paper that’s extremely thin. I love this this type of paper for journaling, but not so much for planning due to it’s tendency to show ghosting. I also know that I do not enjoy using a more yellow paper as seen in Hobonichi planners. However, some people think that the coloring of white paper is too bright to look at and use.
Beyond the paper itself, you’ll want to think about the layout, size, and binding of your journal. I was not successful using a notebook that was structured; although, some people enjoy having a pre-dated page per day. I prefer a more flexible environment for journaling that allows me to use as much or as little space per day as I want. So what’s the deal with size? I found that when I was trying to use an A5 size journal, the prospect of filling one of those pages seemed – difficult. I wanted to have something smaller that allowed me to feel like even small entries had substance. I attempted a Hobonichi weeks size journal, but it was too small.
I found my goldilocks size in a Sterling Ink B6 Slim grid notebook. It’s a lay flat binding as well so I don’t have any annoying uneven covers, rings, discs, or spiral bindings to deal with.
2. Writing instruments are not created equal
I am not saying that you need a $200 pen to be successful in journaling. My favorite pen to journal with is under $3. What’s important is that your pen is comfortable for you to write with for extended periods of time. It’s also important that your pen is compatible with the paper that you enjoy writing on. If you’re smearing ink everywhere any time you write, you might get frustrated and are less likely to enjoy your time journaling. If your pen is constantly making a scratching sound when you write – again, you’re less likely to journal.
So take some time and do some pen testing once you find paper that you love. I adore my fountain pens, but I don’t use them in my journal as often because I’m impatient and I don’t want to wait for them to dry on my paper. For journaling, I need something that dries fast because my ADHD squirrels move too quickly for my pen to keep up most days.
3. Making mistakes – it’s ok
Jump scare? Maybe. You are allowed to make mistakes. Read that again. Journals do not have to be perfect. Mine has coffee stains, lines of text that make no logical sense (some that I can’t even read after writing it), changes in handwriting, different pen weights, and loads of misspellings – I’m a spell check kind of girl.
Spill coffee on the page? Cover it up with a sticker and keep moving. You’d never know I tore the page below in my journal after spilling coffee on it. There are creative ways to cover up mistakes if it bothers you. I prefer to accept and acknowledge the plot twists in life and keep moving forward. Your journal will evolve with you and it’ll never be perfect no matter how practiced you get. I don’t spend time correcting my grammar, run on sentences, or anything else. Just remember, you’re not being graded on your thoughts and at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter that you still can’t spell to save your life.
4. Stickers, deco, and doodles – oh my!
Stickers are not required for journaling no matter what you see online. Now that half the community has me as public enemy number one… let me elaborate. You can be a successful analog journaling enthusiast with a pen and paper. That’s it. That’s the requirement. I journaled for years with only pen and paper – all through high school and college. Not a sticker in sight. GASP – the horror! So, if decorative spreads don’t resonate with you, that’s totally fine. It’s not a requirement, it’s a personal preference.
In all seriousness, the journaling community has evolved so much and I really love looking at decorative spreads. There are some really beautiful works of art out there, but that’s not something I am willing to commit time to. However, I do enjoy my spreads being visually appealing – enter stickers. Some days I still choose to have very minimal spreads and just let my thoughts flow on paper. Other days I don’t have as much to say but want to fill the space on the page. There are many sticker options and aesthetics out there – too many to name. I’ll tell you about the ones that I enjoy using and revisit the sticker conversation in another post.
Personally, I like the visual consistency of using a date sticker in my journal. I don’t have to remember the date, I just peel off the next sticker and keep writing. There’s also something visually satisfying about finishing a sticker sheet. My preferred date stickers are printed on washi paper and the boarders of the sticker just disappear into the paper that I use. I don’t like it when the sticker color doesn’t match the paper color. I also don’t like shiny stickers in my journal. If I have to choose, matte transparent or washi stickers are my preference. I do print a lot of my own stickers, but the others that I use can be found on my favorite’s page under stickers. Here’s a direct link to the washi date stickers I use every day. I also really enjoy washi stickers from Sterling Ink – they have beautiful hand drawn stickers in their shop and offer a monthly sticker subscription. Some of there stickers can be seen above.
5. Get comfortable – no really
Your environment matters. Journaling can be as much about sensory input as it can the actual practice of putting your thoughts down on paper.
Think about what makes you comfortable. Do you need silence to process your thoughts, or music in the background? Do you prefer low lighting because it’s easier on your eyes? Are overhead lights fine? Do you want a yummy smelling candle or the smell of your laundry because you want to feel cozy in your robe? Do you want to sit at a desk or are you more comfortable in your bed or a cozy corner of your home? Is it easier for you to journal somewhere that’s not home?
Take some time to think about what makes you the most comfortable and at peace. What are your non-negotiables for creating a space that makes you feel calm? Recreate that in your journaling environment and see if it helps.
For me, I enjoy sitting at my desk in sweat pants with fuzzy socks – preferably with my cozy robe and the small of our laundry detergent. 90% of the time I have a candle going when I’m in the office – something with leather or bergamot is my favorite. I typically journal in silence, without music – but when the kids are awake I’ll put on noise cancelling headphones with a John Williams score – I just can’t have anything with words in it. My non-negotiable is overhead lighting. I just cannot stand the harshness of overhead lighting – ever.
6. Take note of your journaling duration
Some of you might be thinking – I don’t have time for journaling. Guess what? I felt the same way. When I first started, I set a goal of ten mins a day. This was short lived because what I found was that when I would journal longer, I’d start getting to the really good stuff. I’m not talking about the surface level things here. I’m talking about unlocking a lot of the “why” behind what I was feeling – the “tea” if you will.
I noticed that every time I wrote in my journal, the thoughts would just flood out of me when I’d hit about the 10 minute mark – even when I was struggling to form thoughts earlier in the journaling session. So I found myself stopping because of the arbitrary 10 minute goal right when I was getting to the “good stuff”…
My goal was to use journaling as a tool to keep my mental health in check and I knew that it was important to get the “good stuff” out of my head. So I adjusted my goal – I now try to write for at least thirty minutes. If at the end of that thirty minutes I feel done, I stop. On especially heavy days, I’ve been known to write for hours.
7. Writing speed: get in flow
I recently talked about writing speed in an Instagram story and I had a lot of feedback about this. I didn’t think that writing speed would get so much attention, but here we are. There’s a school of thought that says forcing yourself to slow down when you’re writing, actually helps reduce your anxiety because you’re having to be methodical in the intentional placement of letters on the page.
Then, there’s me. I write like a rabid squirrel. When I’m angry – I rage write. When I’m passionate or brainstorming – I speed write. When I’m excited & hyped up – you got it – my writing gets even more hurried. I don’t know if the speed is just my pen trying to keep up with my brain, but I very rarely write slowly. I can hand write faster than I can type on a computer and this is a big reason most of my notes are handwritten. I guess that I trained for this in college with my five star notebook and bic ballpoint pen. It’s almost as though if I don’t get the thoughts out of my brain, I’ll explode. Writing slower actually makes my anxiety spike because I feel like I’m going to forget something vital. It doesn’t matter if I’m calm – when I’m in flow – my pen moves across the page with a quickness.
So whichever school of thought you’re in – do what feels right for you. Don’t force yourself to slow down if it makes your anxiety worse. Conversely, don’t turn yourself into a rabid squirrel writer just because you think I’m entertaining. If you listen to yourself, you’ll find your flow.
8. To prompt or not to prompt?
Only you can answer the question. If you didn’t get the joke – you should read more. When posting my journal online, many of my followers kept asking – but what do you write about. The answer seems really simple to me – any and everything. I write about work, my marriage, challenges my kids are facing, and even mental blocks about the next big thing for Function of Planning. You wouldn’t believe the number of pages that I wrote before launching my YouTube channel. I have to work through self doubt and fear somehow – most of that was done in my journal.
Some days I am literally writing a pep-talk to myself and encouraging my self to keep moving forward – especially on hard days. Other times I’m kicking my own ass – lovingly. I’m not using my journal as a tool for negative self talk – that’s a hard line for me. I’m having a conversation with my journal and just allowing my thoughts to flow freely – and reframing thoughts that are emotional responses that aren’t constructive. Do I have these deep conversations everyday? No. Sometimes I’m just recapping what happened that day or capturing what I’m feeling in the moment. Some entries are about college visits and school plays while others are about the botched play in a football game.
All this to say – there are no rules – just write. If you need prompts to get you started – go for it. But answer this first – would you need a prompt to tell your best friend about your day? Try approaching your journal as conversation with a person that you can be completely honest with – one that will never judge you – mainly because it’s paper – it’s a game changer.
9. Keep your journal accessible
Out of site, out of mind. If it’s hidden away – you won’t see it. Keep your journal in a location that you’ll see it every day. There’s not a day that goes by that I’m not at my desk – so that’s where I keep mine. When I have a lunch break on a work from home day or I need to decompress after a long day of work, it’s right there. Date sticker and pen readily available to get to started.
10. Just start
I started my current journal on a random Wednesday in September. You don’t have to wait for the beginning of the week, a new month, or a new year to get started. I know a lot of people like to have their thoughts organized by year in a book. Neat. You’re trying to establish a journaling habit, not perfect it. You can fine tune your process as you go. Just start.
Final thoughts…
I hope that these tips were helpful for you! It feels amazing to be back in the journaling habit again. I look forward to this time to myself each and everyday to regulate myself amidst all the chaos around me. I plan to continue sharing updates about my consistency on social media. I’d love to see how anything in this post inspired you – so connect with me on social so I can cheer you on! Drop me a comment below and let me know if you resonated with anything above, if you learned something new, or found this helpful!
Happy journaling!
