Scroll to the bottom for a TL;DR summary!
Not too long ago I blogged about journaling and how beneficial it has become to my well-being in recent times, so I figured I should now take things a step further and detail how exactly I journal, in case it helps anyone out there who may be trying to get into it more…
No further introduction needed, so here we go:
Start with small notebooks
The smaller the notebook, the less intimidating the act of journaling itself will be. Holding a rather large notebook in your hands may feel daunting, whereas a smaller notebook may feel like something that can be filled out rather quickly (because it can). Completing your first few notebooks quickly and seeing them getting stocked on top of one another in a short amount of time may help you to stay motivated to journal longterm. Pocket-sized notebooks also have the convenience of being more portable, of course.
Skip every line between sentences
So if I had to guess, you’ll eventually run out of small notebooks and start having to fill out larger ones that you find around your home. No sense in wasting money on other small notebooks when you have plenty of big ones that haven’t been used yet, right? Well, when you eventually get to this stage, and still feel intimidated by normal, non-pocket-sized books, simply do what I do and start skipping every line between your sentences. Nobody ever said you had to fill our every line, after all (assuming you’re even using lined paper to begin with). Alternatively, you can simply skip every other line, even if your sentences are long enough to take up more than one line at a time. The handwritten version of “double spacing,” if you will.
Bullet-points/ incomplete sentences is fine
By skipping every line between sentences, you’re already doing a form of bullet-journaling, sorta. Therefore, I would argue that forgoing grammatical-correctness and simply writing in incomplete sentences is fine. More than fine, in fact. By prioritizing incomplete sentences, you’re allowing yourself the opportunity to get thoughts “out of your system” faster. Who cares if the writing itself is hard to follow? Nobody is gonna read your journal other than you anyways, most likely. Heck, you don’t even have to read back through old entries (I almost never do).
Try writing in cursive
A long time ago, someone encouraged that I write in cursive “to make writing more fun.” I started doing so, and never looked back. As this old friend of mine had said, writing in cursive is just simply much more fun. Plus, as another friend of mine from around that same time had said, it’s “a dying art.” As far as I’m concerned, we might as well all start writing in cursive just for the sake of keeping the art alive, so to speak.
Use a good pen
Going into journaling with a shitty pen is like going into battle with a shitty gun. Personally, I’m partial to either BIC or Pentel RSVP, fine-size, but you do you! My dad is really into fountain pens. I gave those a try, and they’re not my thing, but maybe they’re yours. More power to you if so. Make sure you rotate between pens on a regular basis, though (the ink in them gets dry fast than you think). Pencils are cool too, of course. UPDATE: Now I’m into felt pens! They’re much better for the speed at which I wanna be journaling at, turns out!
Start your entries by noting daily things
While I personally feel it’s important to journal at least a little every day, I understand that some days are more “journal-worthy” than others. Because of this, I always like to start my entries by making note of a few things that are “constants” in my day-to-day life: How many hours of sleep I got the night before, the number of days since I started my diet (gotta stay motivated for that shit somehow), and what I plan to eat throughout the day. As the day itself progresses, I also like to use my journal to keep track of how many friends I text throughout the day (I prefer texting over in-person interactions by a landslide). Lately I’ve also been noting what I plan to do each day, and have also been reminding myself on a daily basis that “the only important thing in life for me is just to survive the present moment.” I also tell myself here daily to be alone as much as possible, though I understand why that’s not for everyone. UPDATE: Regarding what I do each day, it’s usually just journaling itself now, so I’ve been reminding myself “it’s okay to just journal today.” After all, the earliest humans just did cave drawings of the same stuff over and over…
Regrets/ worries (“that’s what journaling is for”)
Now this is the real “meat” of everything that I’ve been trying to accomplish by journaling as much as I do now. I mentioned in my last journaling-themed post that I struggle with two things in particular; regretting the past, and worrying about the future. I usually make note of that at least once per day in my journals. Sometimes I go into details about whatever specific worries or regrets I may be experiencing in that moment, but most of the time I just simply write something like “having regrets again this morning.” Either way, I usually follow this up with the sentence “But that’s what journaling is for.” Lately I’ve also been feeling nostalgic for my parents’ homeland (which I visit most summers), so every day now I write a quick sentence about the thing I miss most from there on that particular day (but also remind myself why I’m happy to be where I actually am now, despite the bad parts). I also make sure to (vaguely) write about at least one regret every day now, as well as at least one “second-hand embarrassment” moment.
Noting reactions to bad flashbacks
This may not apply to everyone reading this, but some of my past regrets are so bad that it causes me to have distressing “reactions” (twitching, cursing at the top of my lungs, etc.). That said, I’ve noticed that ever since I started journaling daily over this past year or so, I haven’t been having these sorta reactions as much, and I think I large part of that is because I journal about them. Again, I’m usually pretty vague, and just write something like “had a couple of reactions as I woke up this morning, but I think they’re getting less frequent still, so that’s good at least.” I also try to remind myself daily that my flashbacks are usually at their worst in the morning.
Noting current events
Even though I don’t like reading back through old entries, whenever a major event happens, I like to write it down, just for the sake of turning some of my entries into “time capsules,” of sorts. As I’m sure you all know, a lot of unprecedented events have been happening in the world recently, so I’ve been jotting down current events more than usual…
Stream-Of-Consciousness
This probably goes without saying, but when I can’t think of anything else to do, I just write whatever comes to mind, without really thinking about it. Sometimes I write about other tasks I might do later in the day, but it doesn’t always have to be that.
…Well, that’s it! Hopefully at least some of this helps someone out there…
Peace!
PS: I know there’s a stigma against straight men who journal, but that stigma seems to be fading, so pay it no mind! Also, while it goes without saying, what you write doesn’t need to make sense to anyone other than yourself!
UPDATE: Lately I’ve also been leaving my journaling notebook opened to the latest entry and laid out in front of me throughout the day as much as possible. I find that this also helps to keep me at ease. Also, now I write on the top-left corner every day “age brings wisdom (usually).” Additionally, I’ve also started using the Freeform app on my iPhone to do “raw” drawings to reflect stressful moments in my life. I call this visual journaling. I remind myself to do both this and mental journaling on the top-right corner of my physical journal daily now too. Lastly, alongside my daily diet count, I also note “my health is still bad, but it can be worse.”
TL;DR: I journal about 14 things daily: Sleep quality, “age brings wisdom,” friends spoken to, days since diet started, what I’m eating, “only important thing is survival/ being alone,” amount of bad flashbacks (roughly), thing I miss the most from Portugal, why I’m happy to be in the US (despite bad parts), biggest regret, 2nd-hand embarrassment moment, main thing(s) I’m doing, “health is bad but can be worse,” and reminders for mental & visual journaling. And this is all separate from any stream-of-consciousness stuff I might write for fun…
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