Pen to paper journaling offers so many useful things to a person. As a way to explore and record your thoughts and feelings, journaling can be a wonderful way to learn more about yourself and your surroundings. There is something about sitting down and slowing your typical pace of life to write in your journal that can be extremely therapeutic for those who do it. Our lives in today's society are endlessly busy and fast. Use journaling as a way to slow things down and focus on yourself. Journal writing helps us learn more about ourselves, our dreams, our concerns, our aspirations, our thoughts, and our feelings about our lives. This kind of self-exploration is essential to becoming fully self-aware and comfortable with your personal surroundings. Many people use journaling as a way to understand and overcome struggles in their lives and to gain control over their own inner voice. While journaling is a wonderful way to express yourself in a very personal manner, there are many obstacles journalers must overcome before they can embrace their journal writing fully.
1. Perfectionism
As many of us can attest to, a need to be perfect at everything we do can be an extremely limiting trait. While striving for excellence in your pursuits is always a positive thing, perfectionism can be very debilitating. Journaling can bring out some of these anxieties in people. When I first started writing a journal, I would be too scared to really get started because I was afraid of making mistakes while writing and ruining my pretty journal. This fear is something that journal writers just have to overcome. Your journal doesn't have to be perfect. In fact, it should be rough and raw. That's what will make it enlightening and real. Don't be afraid to scratch out words or write messy. You want to use this journal as a release. Don't let your need to be pretty and neat hold you back. Let things get messy and let things go wrong. Your journal should be your method for sorting the messy stuff out.
2. Finding the Time
This is by far one of the most difficult aspects of journal writing for most people. We live busy lives—all of us do. Where can we find the time to sit down and journal our thoughts and feelings? Well, that's part of the beauty of pen to paper journaling. It forces you to slow things down and change your pace in life. Sit down, pause, and relax for a minute with a pen in hand. If you are avoiding journaling simply because you are afraid you won't have enough time to keep up with it, try it out. Even if you are only able to dedicate a few minutes each day to your journaling, anything is better than nothing. Carry your journal or a small writing pad around with you at all times. You never know when or where you might have time to write a few things down.
3. Making Sense
Many of us worry about trying to make our journals "make sense" or follow some sort of order. This makes sense because when we think of writing, we thing articles, stories, and novels. This type of writing follows a pattern and has an overarching point or goal. Journaling is a different type of writing. You don't have to follow a patter or have a conclusion or make any sense at all. Journaling is for you and you only. Sure you can share the things you write if you please, but you shouldn't worry about making your posts make sense for anyone other than yourself. As I said before, in journal writing, things are going to be messy and out of order. Let yourself be looser with your writing. Write what you want to write without any specific pattern or angle in mind. Of course, some of your posts are going to sound more like stories and some are going to have a specific order to them, but there are times you will just write—and that will feel amazing!
How do you conquer your journal writing fears? Please share your tips in the comments section. Thank you!
Our self-paced course, 23 Days to Self-Discovery, can help you get to know and help you nurture your true, authentic self.
If you want to learn how journaling can help you tackle life's challenges and overcome your fears, please download the free eBook, The Journaling Guide to Manage The Stress and Strains of Life.
Leave Comment