Surely, keeping a journal is not the easiest thing to do. At first, you feel motivated to pursue the task since it sounds interesting and appealing. It is like capturing a moment by snapping a bunch of photographs on a camera, except better because you get to document the experience of a particular event or an overall day with your own words. I mean, seriously, how intriguing is the idea of opening this said journal in the future and reliving memories in explicit detail through the thoughts and feelings you had during that time? However, you learn very quickly that journaling is not as simple as clicking a button. In order to achieve a thick, thorough, brimming notebook, you will need time, patience, deliberation, and serious devotion. So, here it goes:
HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY KEEP A JOURNAL
Tip #1: Put words into the journal.
This first tip is extremely obvious, but nonetheless, I must state it because it is crucial. I remember attempting to keep a journal back in sixth grade. I had bought a blue, blank-paged book at Five Below, wrote in it exactly once detailing the goals I hoped to achieve throughout the school year, and that is it. Because I did not continue beyond that first entry, I never truly believed that I could identify the book as my journal. Such a book becomes wholly yours once each page is rooted with bits of your person, and this is accomplished by placing your words – which express your emotions, your humor, and your unique character – into it. Whether you put a pen to paper or your fingers to a keyboard, it does not matter how you get the words down – just that they are recorded before they fade away like dreams with the sunrise, which brings me to my second tip.
Tip #2: Do not delay.
There is a reason that you’re supposed to write in a journal daily or at least every other day. Unless you reside under a rock and stare at bare walls every second of your life, then something is bound to occur that’s out of the ordinary. Maybe you earned high marks on a test, or your best friend told you the funniest joke, or you talked to someone new. Really, even if the event is as mere as a ladybug crawling on your bag, try to write something down! The last thing you want to do is fall out of the habit of writing because one day of not journaling rapidly turns into two days, then three days and then four until before you even realize it – Oh shoot! – a week has come and gone. In consequence of neglecting the work for that entire span of time, you likely have missed out on the opportune time to take down some remarkable happenings. Moreover, even if you tried to record them at a later date, the specifics have already become indistinct. Your enthusiasm in regards to the affair has since been dowsed with water, making whatever you describe less sensational. I, for instance, went on a brief hiatus a while back but during that period, I failed to document my adventures at my first ever Comic Con. Are you kidding me? Although a part of me still desires to make the effort, I am certain that whatever I put into writing won’t be as stimulating because the immediate feelings, thoughts, and visuals have lost their vibrancy.
My main point is this: do not be lazy. Write frequently, despite the fact that you might not have anything substantial or interesting to say. You want journaling to become routine so that it no longer feels like a chore. And honestly, it requires no more than twenty minutes to fill up a page with words, so don’t you dare tell yourself that you “haven’t had the time.” If you have managed to squeeze a movie or two off of Netflix into your schedule, you can very well do the same for journaling. Furthermore, remember to translate the more splendid events into words when they are fresh and new in your mind; those are the entries that are special and make your journal especially valuable.
Still, irrefutably, there will be days when journaling sounds utterly off-putting. Either because you had a bad day or nothing eventful that you want to put onto paper transpired, your motivation to write will be significantly low, and so you’ll deliberate on whether or not you should skip journaling for the day. Do not heed to the devil on your shoulder! As I mentioned previously, abandoning writing for even a single day will ruin your rhythm and lead to successive wordless days. The trick, should you find yourself unable to conjure up ideas, is to look for them elsewhere.
Tip #3: Seek out inspiration.
Writer’s block is normal – healthy even. It is an indication that you have written amply on a particular subject, and that it is time for you to venture toward other avenues and explore different territories. For starters, you may want to experiment with various forms of writing. For example, whenever I get tiresome of babbling about my life in descriptive prose, I’ll switch to a poetic approach, thus practicing the integration of vivid imagery and figurative language into my writing. There is an inconceivable number of ways that you can freshen up your writing, making it both more unique and entertaining. You can write a song and tell a fictional or genuine narrative via the lyrics. You can compile bulleted lists describing things you need to do, aspirations you want to achieve, your likes and dislikes, or anything that is on your mind. Heck, you can even create recipes, and I’m not talking about solely for food dishes (though they indeed are still an option): I am thinking more along the lines of the components of an ideal day, summer vacation, friendship, soulmate, and future. Like I said, the possibilities are endless!
In case none of those suggestions strike your fancy, it’s not a crime to look to the Internet for inspiration. If you search on Google “writing prompts,” literally millions of websites with the prime purpose of stimulating your creativity will be offered. During times of indifference, I myself have directed to Pinterest, which is an ingenious social networking site that allows its users to post pictures of any nature. On this website, I have come across more than a thousand writing prompts that go beyond the typical “write about your favorite animal” or “favorite food” recommendation. These images are posted by fellow writers – people who are familiar with the plight of fueling their brains and defeating a blank page, therefore, it is composed completely of highly enticing ideas. To prove this claim, just the other day, I employed a prompt that instructed me to write in the viewpoint of an imaginary friend who is fading away. Interesting, right? I urge you to check it out. Needless to say, you should definitely take advantage of the other sites at your disposal. All in all, finding a stimulus to write does not have an excruciating endeavor. There is always something to write about, even if the topic is not accessible in your own imagination. You just have to seek it out.
Tip #4: Personalize it.
Lastly, if you want to write a journal and keep up with it, you have to personalize it. In doing this, you’ll be driven in the same manner we humans feel obligated to maintain a certain order to our bedrooms. Although it’s a job that we aren’t always in the mood for, we keep our rooms shipshape because it is amazing to take a step back and see all of the objects, like photographs, posters, and trophies, that symbolize who we are as well as the activities we’ve partaken in. You want your journal to be the friend you turn to in full confidence. You need it to be a vital part of you, like an arm or a leg. You achieve this by decorating the journal and incorporating bits of yourself to it. Paste in pictures of you, your family, and your friends. Style the cover with stickers or sharpie on a favorite quote. Draw some pretty doodles along the sides of the pages. Tape in things that represent where you’ve been and what you’ve done, such as a movie ticket or a map of an amusement park.
Basically, you are aiming to build an attachment to your journal because it embodies all the aspects of your person. You cannot perceive it as an assignment that you’re forced to do, or it won’t be at all enjoyable. Once journaling feels like it is something you’re doing for yourself and take pride in it, then it will not be so difficult to follow through with it.
When all is said and done, journaling is not simple, but it is doable. You cannot perceive as an assignment that you’re forced to do; otherwise, it won’t be at all enjoyable. There will be rough patches, but no matter how adamantly the devil on your shoulder tells that it is alright to skip a day, do not capitulate. Do whatever you have to in order to get some words down on paper. Trust me, in the long run, you will be grateful that you stuck it through.
