The start of a new month is a popular time to set new goals. Setting resolutions and goals is popular during this time because, for many, a new month is a significant marker to examine how you can improve your life—mainly through journaling. 

“To journal more” has been a popular goal on social media in recent years. Journaling carries a lot of benefits. It helps you track your moods, feelings, worries, and any other symptoms you may have daily. It helps you understand your thoughts, prayers, experiences and fears. It also encourages creativity by encouraging you to write—and even create art. All that aside, a journal can also be fun to keep. 

But if you’ve never owned a journal before? It can seem intimidating. It can seem daunting. Scroll through #journaling on social media and videos on “how to start journaling,” you will see these creative, all-out, completed journals with pictures and illustrations. That can intimidate and even stop you from starting a journal. Writing all your thoughts, worries and fears can be intimidating. But here is one thing to know: every journal started from a blank page. Journaling is not about the end goal. Journaling is not only about what you can create, but about the why behind it and how frequently you do it. It’s about unleashing your mind onto paper. It’s about allowing yourself complete creative control. It’s about unleashing all your thoughts, feelings and prayers onto the page and staying aware of those feelings, emotions and moods to overall help you become happier and healthier.  

To Keep a Diary or Journal? 

Journals and diaries share many similarities but also differences. A diary is where you write and keep a record of your events and experiences. Diaries are for recording what you do and see around you and how you feel about those events and experiences. 

A journal can also serve as a diary or keep record of your events and experiences, but you can also write about your innermost thoughts, prayers and feelings. 

You can keep a diary and a journal, or you can keep one journal and make it your diary and journal. That’s the fun part of journaling! It’s whatever you make of it. 

How to Make Journaling a Habit

While it can be fun setting up your new journal, there’s no use in setting one up if you never use it. That defeats the journal’s purpose! How do you turn journaling into a consistent and stable habit? 

1. Set a time. Like all habits, you have to designate a time for it. Choose the time when you’re going to journal and try to stay consistent. Be realistic with setting a time; if you’re not a morning person, don’t write in the morning. Journaling in the evening and at bedtime works just as well! Bring your journal with you to write in between classes, after school or after work. 

2. Reward yourself. Pair your journaling time with an enjoyable experience. This tells your brain that journaling is good. If you journal in the morning, sip on coffee or tea while you do so. Sit in a comfortable and pleasing spot in your home. You’ll be more inclined to keep journaling, especially during that time.  

3. Check out journaling prompts or a guided journal. Look up journal prompts online when you have zero idea of what to write or find yourself blocked on what to write.  (The Deeper section on page 33 has a “Dig Deeper” section with excellent prompts!) Shop for a guided journal with pre-written prompts.  

4. Stay off your phone. You might be tempted to check your phone while journaling, but try to stay off your phone to clear your mind. Social media, even if just a five-minute scroll through a feed, can distract you from this time of self-reflection. 

5. Let go of perfectionism. Each journal entry doesn’t need to be several pages or be deep or thought-provoking. You can write one sentence if you want to. If you skip a day, give yourself grace. Come back to it the next day. Expressing how you feel and writing it out is good enough—even if it’s only one sentence! 

Journaling should be an enjoyable experience. It should be fun. It should be something you look forward to and not something you dread doing.  It should be a therapeutic exercise to help get all your thoughts, worries, fears on paper. Don’t force yourself to if you don’t want to journal one day. If you don’t know what to write one day, and the prompts aren’t inspiring, don’t force yourself to journal or write that day.  

Scroll through journal inspiration pages on social media. Read through and pick out prompts that inspire and encourage you to write. While social media and the many posts about journaling can be a great resource to inspire your journal time, try not to compare you and your journaling capabilities too much. Make your journal about you and for you. 

Happy journaling! This journey is well worth it.