Jan 14 • 🦉 Wisdom
2.75 Years of Journalling
Just over 1000 days ago I started my first journal. Over that time, I’ve been consistent, taken breaks, but most importantly developed a habit and style that worked for me. Here is some advice from finishing my first journal.
Maybe by the end you will all be journalling 🥸 Guess it depends on how well I sell it haha.
I’ve gone from daily with time stamps to week long breaks. Motivation was huge at the start, then it fades and it became a task to tick off. When I was doing it to keep a streak, I lost the desire. It was easy in the beginning, as I was parroting what I had read in philosophy books. Not much brain power and realistically just writing in hopes of remembering what I read. But in doing so, I developed the habit of showing up, sitting down, and writing.
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What worked for me...
- JOURNALLING IS A TOOL—NOT A CHORE. Once I figured out it was ok to take days between entires, I started to grow an appreciation for it. The distance made me want to do it more, and inevitably allowed me time to process my thoughts and feelings better before putting it to paper.
- DON’T OVERTHINK WHAT YOU WRITE. This is for you and no one else. You can write down shit you would never dream of saying to any one else and just looking at the words can help you see it from a different perspective. It doesn’t need to be neat, it doesn’t need to sound pretty, it just needs to serve the purpose of getting your thoughts out of your head.
- JOURNALLING AS A CALL-AND-RESPONSE. I found the most development in my character when I was holding myself accountable to what I had written. The process of setting an intention for how I was going to show up, then evaluating whether or not I did so, helped me see myself from a more objective lens, not allowing emotions to cloud my judgment.
- MAKE IT MESSY—IT DOESN’T ‘NEED’ TO LOOK GOOD. It doesn’t need to, but it can. I developed really nice handwriting from journaling that I prefer over my messy, scribble hand writing. BUT there are entires in my journal that are chaotic and unrefined. It makes it less cohesive when you flick through but that’s not the point. I can remember when I was writing in that messy handwriting I was mad, upset, or frustrated, and it showed through in how I was putting the words on the paper.
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What didn't work for me...
- DON’T FORCE IT. There is always something to write. 100%. But when life gets busy and you just want to go to sleep, don’t feel bad for not getting it in. Missing a day and then showing up again is just as commendable and the person who shows up when it feels hard. The point is you came back to it because you wanted to and knew it would help.
- DON’T WRITE IN THIRD PERSON. “You need to be better”, “You made this mistake, again?”. Not healthy haha. Scrutinising and calling yourself out for doing something poorly from a third person perspective takes you out of it. In a way, it’s placing the ‘blame’ on you, not giving yourself the responsibility. Instead, write in the way of “I made this mistake.”, or “I need to be better.”. Taking ownership of the situation reinstates that you are responsible and therefore need to be the one to take action to more forwards.
- NOT HAVING A PLAN OR ACCOUNTABILITY. Sometimes you keep making the same mistakes. I did. And I would slander myself in my journal over it. The problem was I never thought (or wrote down) what I needed to do in order to move past it. I would just expect to be better because I told myself I wasn’t good enough. Big insight here, it doesn’t work and you would never raise a child that way. Understand where you went wrong, take responsibility, and then think of what you could do to be better going ahead. Even if you get it wrong, you tried, and will learn from failing.
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Instead of doom scrolling before you go to bed, just sit there in silence for 10 minutes and think about your day. Consider what happened and how it made you feel, learn to listen to yourself and link the emotions of the day to what actually happened. Then, write down something that happened. Just recall a part of the day, and if you feel like it, how it made you feel.
The benefits of journalling are felt more when it compounds. You can do it for a day or 1000 days, it 'looks' the same on the outside, but the internal growth from showing up consistently–being the man who WILL show up consistently–is where you make the most progress.
much love,
Krys
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2.75 Years of Journalling
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