I remember before I started journaling in 2017, I thought about starting for about 6 months.
I kept saying “oh yea that would probably be a good thing for me to do” or “that is probably something I should do.”
Journaling just seemed daunting and I built it up to be something that requires too much time or energy.
At that point, you almost have to check yourself and ask is this something I actually want to do?
One day, I had a full mental breakdown about what I was doing with my life and decided yes journaling is something I want to do. I wanted to start making my mental health a priority.
(p.s. I recommend deciding you want to journal before you reach the breaking point, create a soft landing for yourself)
Even though I knew it was something I wanted to do, I was still putting up this mental barrier that was making it so hard to start.
That barrier starts coming down when you decide to put a plan or system in place of how you’re going to make it happen.
I could say I want to start journaling all I want, but it can’t actually happen until I decide what I’m going to do about it.
In order to actually start journaling, I had to 1) know why I was showing up and 2) have a plan for how I was going to do it.
Journaling is not easy, but it is about finding ways to make it easier and easier to show up, to the point where it is hard to make excuses not to.
Here are a few tricks to how you can make starting journaling easier.
Set yourself up with the tools now.
You don’t have to go out of your way to go buy a journal. Grab a journal on your next grocery trip or order one from Amazon that is going to be there in the next 1-2 days.
If you want to type out your journal entry instead of writing, start a blank document on your computer and maybe start journaling before you start work each day.
Pick a time that works for your brain.
Think about the course of your day and when you would be in the best headspace to journal.
When are you the least tired? When can you focus the most? When do you get a moment alone? Pick a time to journal that your brain can realistically be there to make it easier on yourself.
This could take some experimenting to figure it out.
For me, I’ve found the morning is a go-to because I can journal before the day has a chance to get away from me.
Say you’re going to experiment for 5 minutes.
You may feel like you have to journal for a certain amount of time or for a certain amount of pages. You may also feel like your journal has to look a certain way.
I recommend telling yourself that you’re going to try it for just 5 minutes. Write or draw or list whatever you want for 5 minutes.
This can get you started and more often than not, you will journal for more than 5 minutes and get into deep thought that leads you to your next clear decision, idea, or action you want to take in your life.
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You can also apply these tricks to anything else you want to start, i.e. working out, reading more, working on a side hustle, etc.
Set yourself up with the tools now. Pick a time that works for your brain. Say you’re going to experiment with it for 5 minutes. You got this.
