What Keeping a Daily Journal Has Done for My Life
A man is sitting at a wooden desk, next to a window. In front of him lies a book with golden brimmed pages. He’s scribbling furiously as the sun begins to rise, casting a faint orange glow over the room.
As he comes to a finish with whatever he was writing, he shuts the book and leans back, enjoying the view. Possible pondering life, possibly just staring blankly. Another amazing morning is upon us, and he’s ready to begin the day.
That man is me, and that book is the one pictured above — The Freedom Journal. Apart from my daily blogging and the writing I do for my clients, I also keep a journal. However this one is strictly pen and paper, and I write about something different.
I write about my gratitude, my goals, my plans for the day, and my general thoughts or ideas. It’s a time for me to pour my mind onto a page without any rhyme or reason.
One sentence I’ll be talking about how great the food was at the Hibachi place I went to for dinner after my graduation. Then the next sentence will be about how I love coffee, sometimes I wonder what it’s like to be a cat, or how I’d really love to try those water jetpacks.
I don’t need to follow a format, or make any kind of sense. This is entirely for me to unload the random crap that pours in to and out of my head on a daily basis.
I do this twice a day for 5–10 minutes; once when I wake up and once before I go to sleep.
Journaling in this way has helped me stay on track with my goals. It reminds me every single morning and night the progress I intended to make that day, and whether or not I made it.
Some days I go well beyond my expectations for the day. I expect to write one solid article and end up writing three.
Other days I don’t hit the mark, and fall a bit behind. I don’t even manage a single article.
But because I know exactly where I am, I can adjust my strategy for the day to make up for the gains and losses.
The most important part is starting my day with gratitude.
The very first section I must write in the journal is about what I am grateful for. Doing this helps me to feel how blessed I truly am for what I have, even if I’m not where I want to be yet. It gives me a feeling inside unlike any other.
Writing is an amazing gift we humans have found. We should cherish it, nourish it, and feed it until it grows enough to become a big part of us.
It helps us communicate in ways we never dreamed possible. It allows us feelings of joy, gratitude, and utter ecstasy. It helps us commit to our dreams and own up to our failures. It takes the weight off our shoulders and gets things off our chests.
Writing is an incredible treasure — don’t let this gift go to waste.
