Author Eileen Gillick: How Journaling Helped Me Be More Calm, Mindful And Resilient

An Interview With Heidi Sander

You are in tune with your thoughts ,You can forget about grammar and editing when it comes to any journal entry you write, You don’t have to set a certain amount of time to write — write however long you like, There isn’t a right or wrong way to journal — if you doodle or add photographs to a journal entry, I won’t say that’s wrong, The possibilities of what you write in your journal have no end to them.

Journaling is a powerful tool to gain clarity and insight especially during challenging times of loss and uncertainty. Writing can cultivate a deeper connection with yourself and provide an outlet for calmness, resilience and mindfulness. When my mom passed on, I found writing to be cathartic. When I read through my journal years later, there were thoughts that I developed into poems, and others that simply provided a deeper insight into myself. In this series I’m speaking with people who use journaling to become more mindful and resilient.

As a part of this series, I had the distinct pleasure of interviewing Eileen Gillick.

Eileen Gillick is the author and illustrator of the graphic novel series Babyland. Eileen Gillick found her story idea for Babyland, around the age of ten, after admiring baby photos of herself. She found herself in a state of FOMO (fear of missing out) and wanted to put herself in a written series as her “baby” self. She is a member of the Phi Theta Kappa Society and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. Her interests include The Sims 4, Disney and anything related to art and literation. She resides in the tri-state area. Babyland is her first published work.

Thank you so much for joining us in this interview series! We really appreciate the courage it takes to publicly share your story of healing. Before we start, our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your background and your childhood backstory?

I come from a middle-class family in suburbia. Although I was surrounded by the wealthy, I didn’t live wealthy. I could have taken up classes such as dance or singing lessons, but we didn’t have the money to spend on that. I suppose that’s why I took up writing (other than my love for it) because it was the cheapest hobby to get my hands on.

I’ve spent my childhood writing. I’ve saved journals throughout the years, starting with ones filled with pages of sketches. I moved on to actual journal writing by at least sixth grade. The journals that are filled with sketches I consider them filled with stories. I didn’t want to write words down. I wrote them in pictorial form.

Let’s now shift to the main part of our discussion about journaling. Have you been writing in your journal for a long time or was there a challenging situation that prompted you to start journal writing? If you feel comfortable sharing the situation with us, it could help other readers.

I do consider that I was inspired by the tragic story of Anne Frank, to write in a journal, in a diary form. I was taught her story in sixth grade English class and read her diary a few times. That inspired me, to keep record of life events, of my own. What else, was when I read The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes series. That partially reads like a diary. I still love that series and that absolutely inspired me as well!

How did journaling help you heal, mentally, emotionally and spiritually?

I still journal, and I consider it healing in which you release your emotions on paper. No one else has to read them. I drop all my thoughts on paper and don’t have to fret about grammar and editing. There’s knowing that it never has to end, the writing, unless you come to the end of your journal!

Did journaling help you find more self-compassion and gratitude? Can you share a story about that?

I won’t say it makes me more self-compassionate. I don’t feel gratitude towards it. I feel creative one-hundred percent and nonjudgemental.

What kind of content goes into your journal? For example, do you free-write, write poems, doodle?

I will write almost anything in my journal. There’s free-writes, short stories; doodles, artwork; lists and charts, dreams and goals I have for myself. I’ve made them into bullet journals, that process that started not too long ago where your journal is more than writing down your thoughts and feelings: it’s basically what I just listed.

How did you gain a different perspective on life and your emotions while writing in your journal? Can you please share a story about what you mean?

To write in my journal it slows down how I view the world. I’ve written down how I notice what other people don’t notice, what I hope for in the future. If anything, to sit down to write, forces me to either focus on my emotions or ponder what is going on in today’s world. How can I relate that to my writing? Do I put any of that into a short story? That’s my take on perspectives.

In my own journal writing, I ended up creating poems from some of the ideas and one of them won an award. Do you have plans with your journal content?

It depends. I think I may take content, take some journal entries to publish them. Being that my journal is not entirely made of journal entries, I wouldn’t publish the entire journal. It’s something I’d still have to think about.

Fantastic. Here is our main question. In my journaling program, I have found that journaling can help people to become more calm, mindful and resilient. Based on your experience and research, can you please share with our readers “five ways that journaling can help you to be more calm, mindful and resilient”?

I’d start with number 1) You are in tune with your thoughts 2) You can forget about grammar and editing when it comes to any journal entry you write 3) You don’t have to set a certain amount of time to write — write however long you like 4) There isn’t a right or wrong way to journal — if you doodle or add photographs to a journal entry, I won’t say that’s wrong 5) The possibilities of what you write in your journal have no end to them

You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of peace to the greatest amount of people, what would that be?

I’d hope to have education for everyone everywhere. Education lacks in the U.S. and in other countries. Education leads to success, to knowledge. There isn’t anything wrong with being educated.

We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them. :-)

I’d pick actor Gary Oldman, since I look up to him. I adore British actors. He’s got great acting skills that can be looked at for inspiration.

How can our readers further follow your work online?

There is my website, eileengillick.com. It’s still a work in progress. I have LinkedIn. There’s my instagram, eileen_gillicks_babyland. I am not done writing. I hope to publish another book either this year or next year, 2023.

Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued fulfilment and success with your writing!

Thank you so much! This was fun!