Archiving Your Way to Value.
The Creative Struggle
By staff writer Craig Atkinson.
For years I was craving more substance from life, so in 2018 I did something about it. I was 38, and part of me felt like I was just aimlessly drifting. I had some good daily habits and structures, but I wasn’t sure if I had anything to show for them. On top of that, I was also pretty unorganized. I needed a better way to live and learn about myself, so I began with a reading journal.
The proven benefits of keeping a journal range from staying organized, building routine, self growth, exploring creativity, and helping with stress and anxiety. Because journals are extremely flexible, they benefit you by adapting to fit your needs.
Throughout history some extraordinary people have used journaling in their lives to explore thoughts, actions, and the things around them. Da Vinci explored science and anatomy, Roman Emperors fought with inner turmoil, and Sylvia Plath left us with hundreds of pages of notes and journal entries for us to explore.
Here’s a quote that I found recently.
It seems that the original quote says 20 years ago, but the number is not important to the meaning of the thought, and the feeling it conveys. It really gets to regrets, and feelings that we all have with wishing we’d started something earlier. In addition, it doesn’t shy away from the fact that you should have started earlier, but it also says, well, start today.
As I mentioned, my journal started as a reading diary. I recorded how many pages I read, and some thoughts on them. I think this was a good idea, and a great starting point. However, the days that I only read a few pages, I didn’t have much to say, so I morphed it into the beginnings of a bullet journal by adding a daily checklist for habits. Then in time I added a calendar to the start of every month, a list on books I wanted to read, and then after a year, I added a monthly tracker.
The first things I kept track of were sleep, mood, and stress. But after two months I changed them to things that were more beneficial to me, reading, writing, zine reading, and basic exercise. I kept this tracker for over a year, and it was a great way to keep consistent and focused in the mornings.
Now I am using something that is a hybrid of a bullet journal. It has an index, a future log, task pages, and daily entries. There is just no tracker. I keep it simple, and currently use a thin black marker, a black gel pen, and a small cheap notebook (4 X 6 inches).
I use a small book for two reasons. Firstly, it would be daunting to have to fill up a large page of paper every morning. And secondly, is time. My aim for keeping a journal is to archive my life, so I don’t want it taking away from living it.
Archiving my life and getting more substance might have been the reason for me to begin a journal, but there are so many things I’ve gained from it. In addition to cementing my morning routine with journaling being a part of it, I have also used the safe space to work through emotions. Not only has it kept me anchored through the current climate, it helps me deal with major family health issues that are ongoing. In fact, I’m not sure where my mental state would be without it.
Simply put, journaling has been the key for adding real value to my life. It gives me great pleasure having a collection of time documented on thin paper binded together to keep and look back on. Planting my tree back on the 9th of October 2018 while reading, A Farewell to Arms, by Hemingway was an act of self love, and I’m looking forward to see where it leads me.
