My goal for the next year is to be consistent with journaling. I have attempted this many times before over the years, however, I have always failed to get into the rhythm of easily transferring my thoughts to paper. I often also struggled to know when to start and how to start. Now that we are approaching 2024, I am determined to make it my journaling year. This is a blog on how to journal!

Here are some tips for those looking to start journaling.

The 5 F’s

1. Find your why – it is important to understand why you want to journal so that you can set clear goals for yourself that you can work towards. If you do not have a why, you will easily abandon the idea of journaling as you will have nothing really motivating you. Your why could be to use it for art, or to keep record of all your thoughts as you age through life. It can also be something you want to pick up as a stress reliever.
2. Frequency – Plan on how often you want to journal. Make sure this is something that fits within your schedule. This is so that you avoid feeling overwhelmed with the idea of having to whip out a pen and paper after a gruelling day at work. Try journaling whenever you have free time during the week. You should try your hardest to get to a point where you have a measurable frequency to work with. If you want to build a habit out of journaling, it is key to figure out when and how often you want to do it.
3. First page – To get warmed up, you might find it useful to decorate your first page. This also takes the pressure away from thinking about the content of your journal on the first entry. Decorating the first page can help to get you excited about writing.
4. Format -When it comes to formatting, there is no formal way to to do this, however, you can start with: the day of the week, the time that you are writing, and the date. When it comes to the body of your journal entry, then this is completely up to you! There is no right or wrong way to write the content of your entry. No rules!
5. Find what works – There are many decisions to make when writing in a journal. For example, you might think about the format and what you want to use to write with. There are also considerations regarding the type of journaling you want to do. This could include reflective writing, daily logging, stream of consciousness, journal prompts and so forth. Whatever you want to do, just find what makes sense for you!

So, now that we are a little bit wiser when it comes to journaling, let’s sit down with a cup of tea in one hand, with a pen in another, and let’s put pen to paper!