Unfinished Journals (photo by Julie Gibbons 2010 via Flickr)
I admit it: I am only a sporadic journal writer. I can go for months without writing in my journal and then one of several things happens (see below) and I’m back on the journaling train once again until the momentum wears off.
It’s quite revealing why I start journaling after an absent period: emotional catharsis is desperately needed, or I stumble across one of my many journals and become wistful, or I find a new and improved method of journaling (sometimes it’s a lovely new bound journal but often it is a new piece of software or the like). No matter the reason, I only tend to journal when I am either inspired or requiring release. Interesting.
Perhaps this is why my sporadic journal entries waffle between mind-numbing banality and horribly cheeky ranting and raving!
I understand intellectually that writing a journal by hand is supposed to be more “connected” with your inner self but I type so much faster than I can write and my hand has become so unaccustomed to writing that it cannot sustain any sort of writing for any length of time. So I always find myself doing a combination…typing some and writing some. In my opinion, it doesn’t really matter as long as I get the thoughts out of my head and onto paper.
I’ve always longed to be someone who journals regularly and this blog is certainly helping (although I save the really personal stuff for my offline entries). Lately, I’ve been researching journal prompts. I don’t usually need them to get my creative juices flowing but I’m finding them to be a way to gradually ease myself back into this process. I’m not going to set any sort of rules about journaling so that I don’t become discouraged too quickly. Anyway, life is supposed to be fun, right?
This time of year I am particularly drawn to journaling again. Perhaps it’s the stress of the holiday season or the promise of the blank slate of the new year…either way, I’m pleased that I have at least several beginning-of-the-year entries each year to track my growth over time.