Wednesday Wisdom: Tips For Having Fun When Starting A Journaling Practice.
I thought it would be fun to share some tips to have fun when starting a journaling practice… here are 5 quick tips…
- Pick A Journal That Speaks To You – I have found over the years that the journal picks me as much as I pick it. I have one for backpacking, which you saw yesterday… I also have one for my workouts, I have a gratitude journal, and I have kept the journal I got to work through the grief that was associated with the unexpected and untimely death of my mom in 2012.
- Be Gentle With Yourself As You Start The Process – I am a fan of grace and gentleness. As when starting anything new, there is a learning curve and also the time needed to get into the practice.
- Schedule time to journal – I know that when I write things into my agreements book (aka my calendar), they actually happen. 😉
- Have Fun – There Are No Rules – One Big Lesson I picked up during my 2-year period when I lost 28 people from my life was the importance of leaning into “there are no rules.” Some days I would write pages upon pages. On other days, I’d write a paragraph and try to encourage myself to keep going only to feel I had reiterated what I had just written. When I allowed myself the grace to embrace “fun” (which wasn’t a term I used at the time when I was journaling), I also was able to more easily lean into “no rules around this practice.”
- Just Write – Even if it feels repetitive or nonsensical – As I mentioned above, I got comfortable with the fact that some days, I’d have MUCH to write. And other days, I would write something and it would feel silly or like I couldn’t articulate it if I tried to speak it… or yet, as on other days, I’d write what felt like the same thing… the reason I encourage myself to just write is that it is cathartic to get into the process. Embracing “just write” allows me the freedom of “no rules” while simultaneously embracing the “being gentle with myself” part.
Why am I sharing all of this? I’m glad you asked! I have a fun “adventures in journaling” club that will feature beautiful journals with prompts to help connect to yourself and spend time reflecting on things that are important to you while bringing in elements of nature, fun, and more. 🙂 I’ll share the link to the wait list if you’d like to be the first to know when it’s ready… check the comments for the link.