One of the mistakes I see people make with journaling is showing up to write only when they have something to say.
If you want to genuinely benefit from having a journaling practice, it needs to be regular. It isn’t enough that you show up when things get hard.
And trust me, I know that staring down an empty page is intimidating.
“I love writer’s block!” said no one ever.
The good news is that writer’s block is easy to get over. You just start writing!
And especially with journaling, it doesn’t matter what you write.
As long as you do write.
If you don’t know what to write, then write that; “I don’t know what to write about! I can’t think of a single thing to say! I don’t know how to do this journaling thing!”
And lo, you’re already three sentences in.
When you’re sitting there staring at an empty page as if it owes you money, but you can’t get a single word down – write about that.
Write about the thing that you can’t do right now, write about being tired, strung out, staring at the wall without seeing it… whatever it is that’s holding you back.
The only way that empty page wins is if you leave it empty.
And for you to give up and walk away from that empty page, is walking away from yourself. It’s choosing to not show up for yourself at that moment, on that day, to hold the space open for whatever is there.
Since journaling isn’t about performing at a certain level, it doesn’t matter what comes out of you.
And the biggest favour you can do yourself is to let go of what you think you SHOULD be writing, and write what’s there instead.
However silly, nonsensical, stupid, lame, uninteresting, unintelligible, frivolous, amateurish it seems, it usually leads to something more meaningful.
But you’ll never get there unless you take the path offered to you.
So, today I want you to put down all the things you think you should be, and just be who you are.
JOURNALING PROMPTS:
- How does your body feel right now?
- What memory are you grateful for?
- What’s your favourite thing about yourself? What makes it so?
