The Magic of Journaling

I had always planned on doing a journaling blog post here to share the things I love about journaling. I hadn’t planned on doing it quite this soon, but I just completed my first journal a couple of days ago and I had to share my experience…the magic of journaling.

I’m super proud of myself for completing this journal. I have a tendency of starting projects and not always finishing them which isn’t necessarily a bad trait, it’s just when I do actually stick with something to the end, it feels a little special.

I couldn’t wait to read this baby cover to cover the following day.

So, Tuesday morning after the husband had left the house, I grabbed a cup of coffee, headed to the nook, lit a candle and opened to the first page.

November 2017…A whole year of my life in these pages. I hadn’t remembered starting this last November… the feels were building.

Previous Journals

I had diaries throughout my childhood and a journal in college with about 30 entries total. It was never anything I kept up with consistently, but I kept buying journals. I’d buy pretty journals and I’d start them with a certain intention (i.e. dream journal, spiritual journal, favorite birth experience journal etc) and lose interest because of lack of variety and having had pigeon holed myself into one topic. I hadn’t really stuck with anything until this one.

Why I Wanted to Journal

I had read a bunch of articles stating that journaling every day would lead to profound changes in your life. Writing was something I already enjoyed, so I thought sure, why not? Also, the idea of using journaling to document your days and being able to reminisce later by reading old entries was appealing.

But at the same time, I also didn’t know what the hell I would journal about every. single. day. My life is not that exciting. I was worried all my entries would start looking the same… “Today I played with the chickens, cooked some food and got ready for my shift.”

The idea of journaling every day seemed both daunting and alluring.

I Finally Started

I’m not sure what finally changed, but I finally committed.  I didn’t have any intentions or prompts. I wrote whatever I felt like, whatever came to mind.

And good news! I didn’t run out of things to write about and not every page was about my chickens haha! Somehow when you put your pen to paper things just flow out. Some entries felt meaningful while some entries felt silly, rambly or boring (I may have written a whole page about how much I love vegetables lol).

But I just kept showing up for myself.

The Magic

As time went on, I could feel my creativity and self-love growing. I thought to myself, this is the magic they were talking about. But that was just the beginning.

Now, reading it cover to cover, I feel like this is one of the best gifts I have ever given myself and realize that this is where most of the magic lies.

Reliving Your Emotions

I cried and laughed as I reread these pages. It took me right back to all the emotions I felt when I originally wrote the pages. I felt it all again, from joy to sadness to newly wedded bliss and nervousness about starting a blog.

Obviously, the happy ones were great to reread, but I’m sure some of you are thinking why would I want to relive the sad emotions. It’s different. Yes, you can feel the sadness you felt then, but its in a different context now. You feel it with a wisdom and a gentleness that can only come from time. You see how you came through it and that it was temporary.

I don’t suffer from depression, but I’m definitely super emotional. It’s a trait I really love about myself, but it also means I feel things, all the things, really intensely.

So when I’m sad, I’m really really sad. It can feel all consuming and as if its going to last a lifetime. It never does, but seeing it on paper that it passes so quickly is just another reminder that it will pass.

It’s the Little Things

Journaling day in and day out meant I recorded so many small snippets of my day that tended to feel insignificant at the time, but reading them page after page shines a different light on them.

I’m so grateful to have captured so many small moments, from how cute the cat looked in a pile of laundry, to how much I love my job and coworkers, to the five sentences I quickly scribbled in drunken handwriting after a date night about how wonderful my husband is and how we went and stared at the moon in our garden together when we got home.

Those seemingly insignificant things are the things that make up this significant life. There are so many things I read that I didn’t even remember happening and I’m so thankful I jotted them down.

Growing Relationships

I saw ways I’ve grown in my relationships with my husband, my family and my friends over this past year.

I saw opportunities to grow my relationships more and I felt gratitude for so many of the nearest and dearest that truly make my life sweet. But my favorite relationship to watch blossom in these pages is the relationship with myself. I never started this journal out with the intention of increasing self-love, it was just another added benefit.

With no journal prompts, I naturally worked through many self-limiting beliefs. So much clarity comes to you as you write. I find it really hard to lie on paper. We may tell ourselves little lies in our head, but when you write, truth comes out.

I’m all about self-care and journaling is by far one of my favorite ways to make sure I’m meeting my self-care needs, spending some much needed time with myself and speaking truth to myself.

Manifesting

Rereading my journal showed me how I’ve manifested thing after thing, by setting my intention in these pages. If someone had asked me before I reread my journal if I felt super productive through this last year, I think I would have said no, but now I see so many things that I set out to do, that I did.

We tend to be our hardest critics and set super high bars for ourselves, but we don’t always acknowledge when we reach those bars. I sure didn’t until I saw it in writing. And now I’m feeling pretty proud of myself and grateful that I’m living the life I want to live.

Patterns + Themes

It’s the little ways that you think you know yourself, but then you see yourself on paper for a whole year and you get an even deeper, more complete look. The things you don’t remember journaling about you journaled about 12 times. You have entries that felt like fluff, but then they show up again, almost verbatim two weeks later.

Journaling shows us patterns and themes in our life, the good and the bad. It reveals our true worries, insecurities and hangups. It shows us the things that leave an impression on us that maybe we didn’t even realize impacted us so much (the subconscious mind in wild).

I know it can feel scary to have your insecurities and fears shown, but the best way to get rid of darkness is to bring it into the light and to illuminate it. And you can’t bring those things to the light if you can’t consciously see it. Cue journaling.

Personally, I now see how a pattern of fear shows up in my life in a way I was kind of blind to before, but that ultimately brought me a lot of stress. Now, seeing it from a birds eye view I feel like it’s more manageable and that I can address it.

But it’s not all bad! You’ll see the good patterns too. I see a pattern of how I consistently choose love and joy in my life and it’s so beautiful and brings me that much more joy in and of itself.

I’ll Never Not Journal

I’m so grateful I finally committed to starting this journal last year. I know journaling is in my life to stay. Its become an integral part of my day and my morning ritual. I may still dapple with other journals here and there, but this type of journaling will always be my cornerstone.

Now its Your Turn

I know journaling might not be everyone’s cup of tea but if you’ve ever thought for a small moment that maybe you’d like it, I can’t recommend it enough. You’ll uncover so much truth and beauty about yourself. Here’s what to do:

There are beautiful secrets in you just waiting to be written and uncovered.

Keep showing up for yourself, it’s worth it. You’re worth it.

Cheers,

It is Written in the Stars Journal