How to keep up with daily journaling

 

You always wanted to keep up with daily journaling but only made it for five days? Welcome tho this article. I want to give you tips that helped me keeping up. Now I´m journaling since about 250 days daily! Totally without force. I really hope my way of keeping up will help you to get on yours.

 Here are reasons for why you should start a (daily) journal:

 https://ablogaboutjournaling.blogspot.com/2021/04/why-you-should-start-journal.html

So.

Ask yourself. Why do you want to journal? What are your goals on journaling? What stops you from daily journaling? Why? How can you avoid that? Think of some other questions that might help you to dig deep.

For example: If you can´t keep up because you´re too tired in the evening for writing an entry (that used to be one of my problems), why not choosing another time? Like the morning?

Note all of those questions down and answer them honestly. If you know the problem you´ll be much better in fighting it.

In the following, I will share some tips that got me into daily journaling. I started immediatly. I chose to start and I kept up with it until this day. However, here are some tips I find helpful:

• Write in the morning. If you started a new day it´s much easier to sit down and write than if your day is over and you just tired and want to go to sleep.
•  The key of daily journaling is to build a habit. You do that by doing it every day at the same time, expecally when you just started out. When the habit is built you don´t really have to write the same time in the morning, you will write at least one time at the day since journaling got as usual as brushing teeth. But when starting out it´s better to have a regulated plan of when to journal, so it get´s easier to keep up with it.
•  It is very important that you don´t force yourself to write about a ceirtain topic. Like about the walk you went for with your friend. You might wanna remember that later, but describing every detail instead of writing about your life goals that are on your mind leads to nothing.
• If you really don´t want to write grap your journal, write date and note: "I really don´t want to write today" or "Don´t want to write". This will take less than a minute but you kept up daily journaling and working on building that habit! 
  
• Force yourself at least 60 days, If it still doesen´t work then, you should try another way of journaling.  

That´s it for this entry! Hope it helps. If you have more tips, feel free to comment them down below! Stay healthy and keep writing.

 

Why you should start a journal

 

• It documents your life. Most of the events will be forgotten. Your journal will tell you what life was like in the past, what you thought and did back then. How great is that – After many years you can just pull out a journal and relive your past, just by reading some words. You will be able to experience past events from your own, past self perspektive.

• It´s a time capsule. Big events like Corona, the presidental election in the US, smartphones or any trends will be reflected in your journal, since world events effect your life in some way. Might be intersting for people after your life to read about what life was like in the early 21 century.

• A journal showes your personality. It was made by you. Your way of forming sentences, things that concern you, how you look at things and process them. You will change over time. Looking back at your journals, you will see how you have changed.

• Things can be carefully thought out and worked through. By writing it down, things that occupy you positively or negatively become visible and can be analyzed. When you see your thoughts, it is easier to judge and classify them.

• You can let out emotions. Good ones as bad ones. If you allow them to flow, you will feel better after.

• There are no limits. You can use your journal however you want. You could write a line a day, you could write a line a year, you could fill sixteen pages a day. You can paint, you can draw, you can collage, you can take it to the shower. There are no limits.

• Life becomes more managable, the plans and ideas won´t flood your brain if you write them down. You don´t have the urge to remember, just write them down and reread them any time.

• The diary is your memory. All of your thoughts are in there and they will remain there unsless it´s destroyed some day. You can read your old thoughts and remember things that is saved in your unconcious mind.

• The book is a judgmentalfree space. There is total freedom in this room. Use it what you wanna use it for. Nobody enters this room exept you allow them to.

How to not to be afraid of your sketchbook

 

I realized that one of the biggest reasons for not sketching was the fear of drawing/painting ugly. Waisting pages for sketches that are not worth it. And having a sketchbook full of ugly sketches in the end. I´m sure I´m not alone with that fear. Well, last time I found a way to avoid that anxiety and my way might be otheres way so I want to share it!

I wish all of my sketchbook pages looked like this

 

We all see beautiful photos of sketchbooks online. We all think, that others are better drawers since their sketchbooks seem to be filled with pretty artworks only. But they aren´t. They only show their succeeded drawings. Why would they show failed ones? Note that: Every sketchbook is filled with great artworks, simple scribbles and "failed" drawings. Your sketchbook isn´t the only one. Accept, that none of your sketchbooks will ever be perfect, that´s simply impossible. Allow yourself to draw ugly. Allow yourself to make mistakes.

 

But they simply don´t.

Another thing that makes us afraid is waisting pages. You got that beautiful sketchbook from your local art store. Nice hardcover, nice aquarell-pages. It wasn´t that expencive but you don´t want to waste pages, you think it deserves pretty art only. Well, if you think that way you can get rid of it right away. You don´t waste a page when sketching. Isn´t sketching fun? Yes, it is! If you have fun while sketching the page is worth it. You improve with every sketch. Also, don´t feel forced to press many "ugly" scribbles on one page to "waste less pages", every sketch needs it´s space. You´ll see, that makes fast scribbles look much better. 

A sketch that is wether good nor bad

It happens a lot that people want to see your sketches when you sketch in public. I often show my sketches then, even if I don´t feel comfortable about it. I´m sure many of you too. We have to improve on saying no. You also wouldn´t read your diary entries out loud if someone asked you for it, right? There is that fear of judgement, that people see our sketches and think "oh, this person cannot draw". That we get critizised for what we do. If you show your sketches by youself you shouldn´t be offended if people critisize you. But without permission it would be disrespectful of them to judge since you did not want them to see it. 

 

I mentioned some of the problems I have been struggeling with, now I will give you some tips that helped me to loose the fear of sketching. It comes back sometimes (expecally when people suddenly look over my shoulder while I´m sketching) but these tips help me to fight it.

•  Your sketchbook is allowed to contain ugly sketches. Learn to accept them.
  
• Do not show your sketchbook to others if you don´t want to get judged.
• You do not waste pages by drawing on them. You´d waste them if you wouldn´t.

Things to do:

1. When you start a sketch, don´t start on the next page. Start on any page. That way those "ugly sketches" don not demotivate you by following one after another. Also, you tend more to judge the latest sketches then you do with old ones. So if you draw a new one beside an old one you don´t wrestle your hands above your untalented skills. For better orientation, write the date beside every sketch. Or number the pages whereve you draw the next sketch.
   
2. Leave space. Don´t press skribbles all on one page just because you think each scribble doesen´t deserve a single page. As you can see on the picture above, I left the fast sketches on the left side alone and it looks good that way. 
3. If you do step one and two, it should help you to loose your fear of waisting the sketchbook a bit. If it doesen´t note down what makes you feel waisting the sketchbook and do exacly that (if it´s not burning that poor book). If you´re done, note down how it felt. Was it that terrible?
4. If you don´t want others to see what you draw when you´re in public, choose a place with a wall or something big behind you, so nobody can come from behind. If people just go straight to you and look inside without your permission, gentely close your book and say, you don´t want this person to look on your personal things. Can be hard but we have to learn that, for our own sake. 
5. You could make a web page (on blogger.com for example) where you upload the sketches you´re willing others to see. If you´re out on public, give this web page to the people who want to see what you draw, that way they get kind of what they want without you being uncomfortable.

That´s it for this blog, I hope it helped you out! Try these advices, if you have some aswell, comment them down below! I´d love to hear some more, I still need to figure out how to beat my fear completely. Have a nice day and keep creating.