Journaling is a healthy technique that has proven to aid mental health which is often included in New Years resolutions.
Below, CBJ Target have compiled some of the best tips to keep you going throughout the last of the winter months to keep a journal that will hopefully last you to the end of the year!
- Don’t worry if you miss a day.
One of the most disheartening things that can happen in the early days of keeping a journal is missing or forgetting a day.
It can throw off a routine you were trying to make a habit, or make you wonder why you should keep up with it.
The biggest advice you can hear is that it doesn’t matter.
You can pick up writing a week, a month, or even a season after the date you left off, with absolutely no repercussions.
If you stop feeling the stress from trying to fill a page every day, you can have much more fun updating your journal whenever you want.
2. Put whatever you want in it!
Journaling has become a popular trend across Instagram and TikTok in recent years, and there are plenty of inspiration sources to be found.
Instead of trying to copy what you see online, try your own style.
A lot of journals on social media lean heavily into a vintage or Victorian look, but if you prefer pastels, or florals, there’s nothing stopping you from including those.
Instead of keeping a journal of your day, or things such as a mood tracker, you could review books you have read, or paste in photographs of things you’ve done.
This also reduces the stress of having to make an entry every day.
3. Try “junking” some pages.
Junk journaling has been taking off recently, and makes the idea of creating visually interesting journal pages a lot easier.
Use things you would normally throw away- use letters or receipts for a black and white background, use clothes tags if you’ve bought anything recently, and use string or ribbon from a parcel to create a border.
Doing this will reduce the amount of waste you throw away, helping you be more sustainable as well.
This way, you don’t even have to write to put memories in your journal, and you don’t have to purchase anything, just save things you would usually throw away.
4. Make your own supplies!
If you truly want to personalise your journal, you can try your hand at making your own supplies for it.
Take yourself back to school history projects and coffee-stain some paper for a beautiful aged look, or make your own stickers by drawing on matte sticker paper.
You could even embroider your own patches, or weave a bookmark out of embroidery thread.
All of these will make your journal even more personal to you, and putting the extra effort in to create things to use might give you the extra push to create a few new entries.
5. Don’t feel pressured to spend money.
Whilst it can be tempting to rush to the nearest stationery store and start buying stickers and stamps, the best thing to remember is that none of it is necessary to complete a journal.
Watching people bind their home-made paper and make their own postcards is cool, but all you really need for a journal is a pen and a notebook, both of which can be bought cheaply from almost any store.
You might even have them at home already.
With a bit of creativity, you can turn anything into a journal worth being envious of.
