Journaling rocks!

I’ve kept a journal, in one form or another, most of my life. When I was in elementary school, I had all sorts of pink and glittery diaries with strong locks on them. LOL! That didn’t stop my pesky brother from breaking into them. From middle school through college, I filled up hundreds of pages in spiral bound notebooks that I squirreled under my mattress. Once I nailed my first job after college, I classed up my act with pricey Barnes & Noble journals. For a few years, I journaled in an online app before getting paranoid about hackers.

Now that I write for a living, I’ve downsized my habit. For the past eight years, I’ve used a small journal (see photo) that allows for five entries per page. So, the date at the top of a page may be January 25, but it has entries from 2016, 2017, 2018 and now 2019. At the end of 2020, the book will be full. It’s a blast opening the journal each morning to discover what I did and thought in previous years.

I’ve used journaling to record my activities, spill my true thoughts and opinions, rant, rave, dream, track my weight and exercise, note the weather, thank God for blessings, and send up prayers. It’s a fulfilling exercise that takes me about five minutes to complete.

I highly recommend that everyone keep a journal. Use it however you wish. You may want to pick a particular subject to write about each day, such as how much you adore your kitten, or you may be more interested in keeping track of what you did during your waking hours. The content is up to you. A journal is personal and should be a safe place for you to voice your inner feelings. I advise you to hide the journal out of reach of curious siblings.

The benefits of journaling are many. Whenever I wish, I can:

— refer back to a specific date to see what I did.

— laugh about my antics. (Yes, I did toilet paper lawns when I was in high school.)

— share my personal thoughts with others. (Hey, son, did you know that on this date in 2014, I considered ripping your Playstation out of the TV and chunking it in the lake?)Enough time has passed that we can laugh about it now.

— cherish awesome memories with family and friends.

— praise God for answered prayers. And sometimes unanswered prayers.

If you’re interested in writing, it’s a great way to practice your skill. And, you never know, one day you may be rich and famous and be asked to write your memoir. Your journals will make this project easy.

Do you currently journal? If so, how do you go about doing it?