Diary Writing

Writing a diary for life

I got my first diary for my 12th birthday. In the picture you can see that I wanted a diary with a lock: my little brother should not be able to read my innermost thoughts. In the meantime I have written and designed a lot of journals (as diaries are called a bit newfangled). Journal writing comes naturally to me. Whether dream journal, travel journal, or bullet journal, I've tried it all for myself. Probably the impulse came from the most famous diarist: Anne Frank. Her daily notes are an oppressive description of the approaching disaster and a historical witness.

The power of writing

My realization from this: writing a diary has a healing effect. But I'm not the only one who says that, studies have shown that. A trial with students at the University of Texas showed that diarists are less prone to colds and other illnesses. So a journal helps us cope better with stress. Our memory is improved and we learn to handle stressful situations better.

Anyone who has ever kept a diary knows: it helps to organize one's thoughts and to analyze what has been experienced. The recording for the future is rarely in the foreground, but it is an important aspect: It is wonderful to read what one had experienced in the past, what one thought about it and which feelings prevailed at that time. In the today's time one differentiates gladly between diary writing and journals. Diaries should represent rather a chronology of daily routine, while one turns with the Journalen everything rather around the personality. So these are the different definitions.

For me, though, the transitions are fluid. I have always integrated journaling aspects into my diaries. For example, one of the first entries in said diary with Castle deals with the question: what is friendship? A question that I still consider very important a few decades later (and have not yet fully resolved ;-)). At that time, however, the word journaling was certainly unknown to me. I therefore use the terms interchangeably for the entire blog, and see them as equivalent.

Why journaling?

So why journaling? The simplest answer - writing creates distance. With distance, things can be better understood and thus can create clarity in life. Journaling is thus therapeutic. Possible other reasons:

• Experiencing moments more consciously, e.g., as an emotional diary.
• More mindfulness, as one consciously takes time each day for one's own feelings
• Answering philophical questions of life
• Reduce stress and frustration by writing down your worries in the diary
• Improve self-knowledge and further development (e.g. via a dream diary or via positive diary)
• Find balance in life (between negative and positive thoughts)
• Documenting your own life or individual moments (pregnancy, baby years, travel, etc.)
• Structuring one's own life
• and (as we have also seen with Anne Frank), the diary takes over the function of a trustworthy friend

How can you keep a diary?

Just as there are very many reasons to start writing, there are also very many different ways to keep a journal. I'll talk about the different forms in the next chapter. Here is a small helpful guide:

• Try to schedule a fixed time in your day - Don't always get around to it? No problem. But it is important to show a certain regularity nevertheless.
• Be clear about your reasons - Do you just want to report about your day, do you want to deal with your life in a positive way? The clearer your "mission" is, the better you can fulfill it.
• Create a positive environment - You should enjoy writing. You should enjoy taking the time to write every day. So if you need a cup of coffee, nice music or a smelling candle for it, build up this ritual.
• The design of your journal should inspire you - When I was 12, I loved my journal with a lock: unlocking it always inspired me a lot. Meanwhile, my favorite journal is colorful and crazy. But you can also buy a ready-made journal. There are also journaling calendars where you can also find space to record your days chronologically. A nice notebook will do as well. But more about that in the next chapter.
• Find an impulse - Maybe you need a specific question or you go into "Automatic Writing" (fast writing without thinking). The writing should then flow naturally and should be easier for you afterwards.

And what do you need for a journal?

A little digression on the subject of notebooks: Ask yourself a few questions to find the right one for you:

• where do you want to take your journal - if you always want to have your journal with you, it should not be bigger than A5. Otherwise, a book with large pages in a fixed place can be very inspiring.
• what do you want to write with in your journal (and possibly draw) - the paper should tolerate your pen (and your colors) well and not bleed through
• how much structure do you want - should the calendar days be written in the journal? Do you need lines, because it is important to you to write straight? Do you want to design freely? Do you plan to keep a bullet journal? This will determine the pattern of your pages.
• How open, may or can your life be - back to the journal with a lock. Depending on your environment, it may be necessary to be able to lock your journal. But in the meantime there are also diaries with code!

On the subject of which journal I have already written a longer post. There I go into more detail about what is important in which journaling form.

How can you design your journal?

1. Maybe you are one of those people for whom a simple notebook (from Moleskine) is enough. You just want to write. From inexpensive to leather-bound notebooks, there's plenty to choose from.
    
2. Preprinted diaries
   
   Calendar diaries: these have a fixed calendar built in and enough space to write something down each day.
   
   Inspiration journals: the goal here is self-knowledge and development. These journals usually start with annual goals and try to inspire you positively (see e.g. A Good Plan). Others also encourage you to color in small drawings. 
   
   
3. Personalized Journals
   
   Bullet Journals - Even though there are pre-made bullet journals, the real goal of bullet journaling is for everyone to design and personalize their own journal. For this, you need a dotted notebook that you usually redesign every month. Lettering is of course very important here! Here the daily routine is strongly structured.
   
   Art Journaling - That I love this creative journaling, I do not need to tell anyone more  But what I love about it is the freedom and the use, not only of the writing, but also the creative energy to print out. Actually, you can put anything you like in your Art Journal. In the spirit of a Smashbook, you paste in anything you like, decorate the pages with paint, stamps, stickers, and more. You can also design your cover appealingly. Well, and of course you can write too ;-).

Possible questions and impulses?

You have answered all your questions and are now ready to get started. Maybe you don't want to just write down your daily routine, but you want to deal with the questions of life. So here are a few questions that you can use as inspiration and as a start for journaling:

• What are you grateful for? (Gratitude Journal)
• What is important to you in life?
• What special experience did you have today? (diary, travel journal, etc.)
• What was your good deed of the day?
• How do you feel?
• What did you achieve today? (Goals or project journal)
• What did you learn today?
• What dreams did you have during the night? (Dream journal)
• Did you accomplish what you set out to do today?
• What makes you happy? (Happiness Journal)
• Your top 10 are....
  • Places you want to go
  • People you want to meet
  • Things you want to do
  • ...

Of course, the list is by no means complete.

Writing a diary lives from regularity. The more often you twitch your pen, the easier and more natural it becomes. If you have writer's block, I recommend that you simply go into "automatic writing". Write without meaning, without thinking. You can also simply write: "I don't know what to write!", gladly several times. It can also help to set yourself a daily dose (e.g. at least 1 A4 page). Here it is important to find a balance: to overcome the inner dog without feeling the writing as a burden.

I hope I could inspire you to pick up a pen again and just write! 

Enjoy this liberating power!