Journal Keeping
Dear Diary,
Well, it doesn’t have to be a diary, exactly, but keeping a journal can help in so many ways! Most people don’t keep journals because of the fear that someone will read them but girls, there are ways around that. Nowadays, they have apps on your phone that you can get that require a password to get into it. Or… you can do what I do and just become a very creative hider.
Journaling is a way to get out any emotions that you have that just need to escape. It is an outlet that is safe and can help you deal with your emotions in a better way. Writing down your goals in life, how you feel, or even just logging what you have to do or what you intend to get done can help you in so many ways.
Writing your goals down on a piece of paper will motivate you to get them done whether you realize it or not. The satisfaction of crossing off an achievement is what pushes you to want to do more for yourself. Create a page for your goals and right next to it on the other page create a page for your achievements. It gives you a chance to really think about what you want and to figure out the things that will make you happy. When you look at your list of goals think: “If I don’t achieve that or if it doesn’t happen, will I still be happy?” If the answer is yes, then maybe you need to focus on the goals that will benefit your life. But, if the answer is no, then go for it. Achieve it. You can do anything! Having the motivation towards a goal is getting you one step closer than you were before setting it.
How you feel is crucially important. Never think that how you feel doesn’t matter because it does. You are you for a reason and you are here for a reason. You made your place in this world to share how you feel. We all have days where we aren’t feeling the best and we think we can’t share because we don’t want to bug the people around us with our problems. Write it down. Writing isn’t going to solve the problem you are going through but it will help you wrap your head around it and find a solution faster. I tend to feel that when I write down how I am feeling, I’m less likely to burden others with it because I don’t like to repeat myself. But if you have someone to go to then do that! People were created to help others. But if you would rather not share, then journaling is mighty comforting.
I started bullet journaling a year ago from the motivation of my friend’s mother and I absolutely loved it! I am a very creative-minded person and it was such an amazing outlet for me. It also helped me organize my life and reduced my stress levels immensely! For those who don’t know what bullet journaling is, it is basically a calendar that you create yourself and you can personalize it in any way that you want! In the first half of mine, it was used for my calendar. I wrote what I had coming up in my life, my tasks for that month and my goals for that month. It helped me achieve so much that I wanted to get done. In the back were my personal pages. I wrote some diary entries, put some motivational quotes, had some practice logs for piano and voice lessons, and wrote anything back there that would help me personally. I wrote what made me happy every day. I wrote what I did for others. Looking at the positive side of any situation is what helped me live a happier life.
Now, you may be reading about that bullet journaling idea thinking that that sounds like so much work to make it look good and to keep it updated. Well, that’s why I started another journal this year. I’m not sure what I would call it but when I started it I told myself that anything I wrote didn’t have to be perfect. It was just honest and not pretty because it was just pen-on-paper. I write my dreams, my goals, my ideas, what makes me angry, what I’m thankful for and anything else that I just feel the need to write down on paper. A journal doesn’t have to be perfect. I just liked bullet journaling for the creative part of it. It was fun to do when I was bored, but buying a regular journal to just simply write is perfectly okay, too.
Journal keeping should be started by everyone. Everyone should try it out for at least a month. You’d be surprised how much you think about and what your true goals are. Everybody needs some sort of outlet through life and here is a perfect one! Go out and buy a journal that makes you happy so that you can live a life happier!
Laurel ☽ Blogs 