Writing is therapeutic. Keeping a journal is something I believe everyone should do even though I personally don’t express that often. A journal is a symbol of your thoughts, goals and personal growth. I started keeping one mainly to help me to remember things. With a full house and constant action, I need to write down my thoughts daily just to keep everything in order and my sanity. The problem was I would write in one of several notebooks and forget where I wrote last. Soon, my writing evolved though to hold more ideas than To-dos and more expectations than just my daily activities.
I write about just about anything that is on my mind at the time. I may really fall in love with a song I heard on the radio that day and write about that song. Maybe I ate a really tasty pie and want to practice making one someday. Today I wrote about someone I admire and why. Tomorrow my journal may be a tool to help solve a problem or make a decision. Writing it out is like having that conversation out loud. But now I can see my options, and see what consequences may result.
Just about every day though I try and include certain things. I like to know my general feeling for the day, so am I happy, relieved, stressed, nervous etc. and of course I try and keep accurate track of what I ate.
Where’s Your Journal?
If you don’t keep a journal, I recommend you pick one up. It is very simple to start one. You just need a plain notebook or even a calendar. There are very inexpensive notebooks that can be picked up from the dollar store or any other discount store. What is most valuable is inside. If you feel like you don’t even know where to begin with your journal, write the date, day and time. Write down how you are feeling at that exact moment or what your plan is for the rest of the day. It’s that simple.
If your goal is to be more health conscious, make a food journal. It will help keep you accountable and see in plain black and white, what types of foods you are eating, what types of foods you are not eating and how much. What I find is if I don’t write down what I ate and how much, I UNDERESTIMATE.
Conveniently, I didn’t even realize I ate a slice of pizza and that whole double cheese burger. I didn’t forget on purpose, I just don’t remember accurately and I usually feel that I ate less than I really did. Can you see how not keeping track of your daily food choices can sabotage your healthy program?? I may snack more if I forget about the cheeseburger. An option in food journaling is to take a quick picture of your meal or snack before you eat it. Keeping a food journal will help you to be accountable and also keep you encouraged when you meet certain goals and milestones.
Later, your journal is a reflection tool to reflect on life’s progress. I get a measure of joy when I see my personal growth and how much I’ve learned from different experiences. It’s funny sometime to look back and read the things that I have said about myself, or what I’ve said to others. Or¸ to even see how different my views may be on certain topics a month or year later.
Life is about living and learning. Keeping a journal will help you to do just that. At the end of the day, there is always something worth mentioning to your journal.
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