What To Do When You Want To Journal, But You Can’t.
5 creative ideas you probably have never heard of before.
New year, new luck, new me — January is here, and this year is the year. This year I’ll be better, healthier, smarter, richer…
This year I will start journaling. I will be more mindful. I will be more present.
How many people know this dialog by heart? There is something intrinsic in humankind that wants us to set resolutions for the year to come as if for some reason January could give us the willpower of all the other months combined.
What strikes me as interesting is that so many people have journaling on their “top 5 list” of habits they want to introduce in their life. And as wonderful as the idea might sound to dedicate your mornings sipping through a hot cup of coffee, with a pen in one hand and a notebook on the other… people slip through, leaving their journaling routine as swiftly as they had picked it up.
They blame it on the lack of time, of a silent space, or on a tired hand. One way or another, they can’t seem to get into a rhythm, and end up believing that “it’s just not for me”.
What I think, is that most of these people set themselves too high journaling expectations and, completely unaware of it, overwhelm themselves. They want to get everything in: their goals, their most deep-rooted thoughts and feelings, their to-do’s, as well as their hourly schedule. Oh, and then of course the gratitude exercise they read on this site, and the manifestation practice they read on the other. And on top of it, they want to do it all in about 15 minutes — because that’s the ammount of time they’ve allocated for it.
It doesn’t work like this. Journaling comes from the heart, and so, different people have different ways of journaling. If the daily pen and pencil version doesn’t quite work for you, try out these 5 other techniques! I have put them all into practice and can definitely recommend them.
Here are 5 creative journaling ideas:
1. Things that make me happy in…
I implemented this technique relatively late in my life. I got the inspiration from an Airbnb stay that had these beautifully framed writings hanging on the walls, and I absolutely adored the idea!
It is basically a memory collection of the things that made you happy during a certain month. You take a blank paper, title it (for instance “Things that make me happy in December 2020” ), and list down everything that your mind can think of. You will probably start with obvious things, such as names of places or people, moments or things; but you’ll eventually get deeper in thought and notice all those little moments that you didn’t even know made you happy.
The key point here is to let yourself be driven by your impulse, and not question what comes out! Remember to repeat this exercise at the end of every month and keep all the pages together. Good luck!
2. Looking back in time, literally.
I have been using this journaling technique since the age of 18 — so please believe me when I say that you must start with it now: video journaling.
The idea is pretty self-explanatory: you record yourself on video and keep these videos as a journal of your life. What you talk about is totally up to you! You could dive deep into your emotions, talk about your current fears and dreams, or you can explain the highs and lows of what you have been up to.
You can talk as much or as little as you want, and set a regular timeframe that works for you. My first aim was to do these videos once a week, but that never worked. I generally would recommend to do it by-weekly or even monthly.
It will definitely take a bit of time getting used to talking “alone”, but you’ll get the hang of it! I find using a laptop camera the easiest, and minimize the window so that you don’t see yourself directly. That can get quite awkward. Also: buy yourself an external drive to keep all those large video files!
The pros of this technique are various, but here are my top three: you can talk for ages without getting a tired hand, you can express a lot more in a short amount of time, and you’ll be able to capture all the details. The way you talk, the way you look, the expressions you use…One day, you’ll look back to these videos and be fascinated about how much you’ve changed!
3. Old-school shots for special moments.
People nowadays take photos of everything. It’s like a disease. Back in the day, you’d cherish every single photograph and compile meaningful family albums with the highlights of your year and little notes on the sides — like a journal!
With the arrival of smartphones, though, we’ve gradually lost the ability to appreciate the magic of what a photo is: a moment captured in time. That’s why I love this journaling technique so much. You’ll be able to get it back.
Get yourself a polaroid camera and take it with you to all those special gatherings and meaningful moments. Be wise, and do not overuse it! I usually only take 1 shot, maximum 2, of any special occasion. Since polaroids develop instantly, I like to bring a permanent pen with me to write down the date on the side of it, and give the polaroid a “title”. And that’s it!
4. Letters and poems from the heart.
This journaling technique goes back to writing, but it gives you a bigger range of possibilities. Like I mentioned before, I feel like a lot of people fail to keep the practice going because they overwhelm themselves with too much to write in only one day. Give yourself more time to live and experience, before wanting to hold everything down on paper.
I would suggest changing your journaling habit from a “diary” to “letters”. This way, you will have a different perception of the task. See, when you write a letter to yourself, there is no time pressure. You will do it whenever you feel like there is something important to write about, as you would do in real life.
You may, of course, vary this up and incorporate other types of manuscripts. What I found to be incredibly significant are poems to oneself! They don’t have to rhyme, and they can be short and concise if you want, but they will always be utterly meaningful and personal. I promise you, the day you read through these letters and poems, you’ll be able to see your life from a new perspective, and thus, work through your memories in a different way.
5. The Cookie Jar method
We have talked about this concept a lot in our recent articles. The strategy is quite simple: every time you have a meaningful moment — doesn’t matter if big or small — you write it down on a piece of paper. Then, you take a mason jar and start collecting them. This way, you’ll have all the most important moments of your life grouped in one single place.
I love this journaling method because not only is it fun to see how the pile of moments starts growing inside your jar, but they are also readily available for you whenever you need them. You just have to go to your mason jar and randomly take out the pieces of paper, reading them out loud. You will surprise yourself with powerful moments, and thus you’ll gain motivation and energy. It’s like a mini psychologist made out of your own memories!
Although I am a big fan of the physical version of this journaling style, I must admit that it isn’t very take-away friendly. I am a person that travels a lot, and I can carry my notebook, polaroids, or letters with me — but not a big jar! This is where Cookie Jar comes in, an app that has digitilized this journaling style. Plus, it’s simply awesome because you can even link your memories to photos, music, people, and audio! If you are interested in giving it a try, you can easily sign up for the beta version under this form. Give it a try!
Conclusion
Even if you have tried to start journaling on the 1st of January many many times before, and “failed”, I would suggest you don’t give up! Every person changes, develops, and grows throughout their life — even in the adult stage. Leaving your experiences, thoughts and emotions captured somewhere else apart from your memory, is incredibly grounding for the soul and freeing for the mind. One day, you’ll look back at them, and realize this.
So give it another try with these new 5 techniques — or, even better, invent one of your own! If there is one thing I can tell you, is that there is no wrong or right way to journal, so be creative and design your own style. But do it!
