They all have a story. Your experiences, your feelings, ideas, thoughts and dreams combine to form your life and your journey, which is your story. A great way to keep a relative reflection of all those things that have happened in your life is to keep a journal. A journal, a weekly journal, a month-end summary journal, any or all of these are ways you can track and record your experiences, your story.
His story, his diary is about anything, whoever, however, whenever it is about. YOUR journal can contain a word a day, a paragraph or pages. You can write in YOUR journal every day, or you can write every week or every month. (I recently didn’t write a diary for two months.) Some people haven’t kept a journal for years and then started over, when the time was right for them. Remember that it is your diary, you choose when to write and when not to write.
YOUR journal contains everything you want to write about: the beauty of the sunset you saw tonight, your worries and hopes for your children, the joy and inspiration of the new art exhibit you just saw, your fear and excitement about what’s going on in a relationship, how happy you are with your new assignment at work. Writing about anything that is important to you at the moment is journaling. There may or may not be a theme for your journal. I have written about the soup, the weather, myself, my friends, and my dreams for the future. A diary, which is the same thing as a diary, is a place where you choose to keep what is important to you.
The start of your diary can be any day of any year. The day you feel like you want to start recording your experiences and thoughts is the perfect day to start journaling. It can be January 1, August 19 or today. There is no set time of year to start a journal or to start journaling again. Some people like the idea of starting their journal on January 1st. They write down their goals and ideas at the beginning of the year. Others like the idea of starting the same day they think they want to write about their life in a journal. Whatever you choose, it’s the right path for you, and that’s all that matters.
What you want to write in the diary is up to you. You can get a notebook, plain paper, or a blank book. It’s up to you. What you want to write with a pen or pencil is also up to you. I journal with a favorite pen that makes writing easier because it “glides” across the paper. You can also record your diary on tape, video, or computer. Writing letters can be another way to keep a journal of your experiences. Another way to keep a journal is to write every day on a calendar.
Remembering to take vitamins is hard for me every day. Unless I put them somewhere where I can see them, I can easily forget to take them. The same is true for my diary. So, I keep my journal on my desk where I will see it every day. For you, that spot might be where you drink your coffee in the morning, your nightstand, or next to your exercise equipment. Keep it somewhere where you will notice it every day.
You may want to have a special, secret place for your journal, so no one else can read it. You can keep it in a locked box or save it. You can also ask the people around you not to read your diary, as it is private and only concerns you. As you journal about specific events or people, you can also use keywords or symbols for those experiences. It is important that you feel safe while writing and expressing in your journal. Think about how you can create that safe space for yourself in your own environment.
There are many benefits of keeping a journal. They include stress reduction, help setting daily and future goals, and help with organizing your thoughts and planning for your day. Keeping a journal also helps you focus as you write, making what you’re thinking and feeling solid on the page.
Write it down, get it out. A journal also creates a very useful personal reminder. Keeping a journal of your history, experiences, and feelings about your life can improve your emotional, physical, and spiritual well-being. Taking time every day or week for yourself, to sit down and write in your journal, makes time for you. You can give that to yourself. The written record of your story becomes a comforting memory, a written scrapbook of your life and times.
A place to start journaling
On a piece of paper, write your answers to the question,
“What three words best describe how you feel right now?”
For example- happy, excited, positive
For example-nervous, tense, worried
When you are done writing, just write in a journal.
Writing, expressing, can heal us. It can focus, support, and enhance our lives and well-being. Whether we laugh or cry, whether through sadness or joy, we can understand more about ourselves and others by keeping a journal.
Over time, we gain a different perspective. Time is a healer. What was previously difficult or unbearable can now make more sense, giving us a clearer picture. Recording and keeping track of our lives through journaling can bring relief, clarity, joy, and laughter.