In Defense of Journaling

I love journaling. 

Journaling is a great way to work out problems, get a better look at things, track progress, relieve stress and remember events. 

 A journal is a wonderful thing to give your child later in life.  Not just a scrapbook, but a journal of things you experienced with them, events in their lives, struggles you went through, it’s a wonderful gift of love. 

 I personally keep different journals for different purposes.  I have one that I use generally for just daily rambling thoughts, problems and occurrences.  I have a journal where I write to my mom.  I was very close to my mom and the urge to share things with her and dad is still very strong.  It’s not something that will ever go away, so I created a journal specifically to share those type of things, it doesn’t serve any other purpose, but it does seem to help a bit with the grieving and some part of me feels like I am still sharing with her. 

 I love to read travel journals.  Those people who travel and share pictures, thoughts, experiences are terrific!  I have done this on occasion and intend to again in the near future.

 I also like the parenting or mommy type journals too!  The mommy and daddy experiences can be entertaining, laughable, informational, and priceless all at the same time. 

 I love the grandmother and grandfather type journals as well.  Those are often deeply thought out, full of resources, clichés and insight that only comes with a life full of experience. 

 Journals for stress management, weight loss, career and personal development are all effective ways of getting things down so you can chart progress, mindset, and emotions and see patterns that might be holding you back.  Journaling is a great way to see what works and what doesn’t. 

 If you aren’t a journal person or have never tried it, then I urge you to try.  People do journals in all kinds of different ways including: photography, sketching, painting, graffiti, writing, and computer illustration or photo shop.  It doesn’t really matter how creative you are or aren’t, it’s your life, it’s also your decision on if you want to share your experiences or just create something for yourself to look back on. 

 Here are a few links to other articles on journaling that you might find interesting:

 www.stevepavlina.com/blog/2007/07/journaling/

 www.journalforyou.com

 http://www.createwritenow.com/journaling-tips/

 http://teengirlsthatwrite.wordpress.com/2012/02/27/trying-to-move-on-when-it-gets-tough/

 Don’t be intimidated, just have some fun.  A journal is a record of your personal journey and where you are right now, and it can be as personal or public and for whatever purpose you choose. 

 Cherry Coley ©