Who else wants to journal – but can’t seem to write anything?

Posted On May 15, 2022

Picture this:

You buy yourself a journal, a really nice one that makes you itch to write.
You love the cover, the pages, the smell… You can’t wait until tonight when you plan to write down everything that ever happened to you.
When the journal is full, maybe in a year or so, you’ll fondly finger through it and think, “Ah, what a beautiful chronology of my life.”

Yeah.

My sister bought me my first real journal when I was eight. It was a really pretty one with a flower bead on the front. I wrote in it faithfully for a while, but at the end of the year, I decided I’d start a new one. “I’ll fill a journal every year,” I thought.

Like that happened. Today I look back in that journal and wish I’d written in it more, rather than leaving it half-full. That year was a difficult year of my life and I wish I’d written more. I look back and wonder what I thought. What were my dreams? What made me sad? What excited me?

These days, I have a shelf full of half-filled notebooks.

So what was the problem? Why couldn’t I journal the way I wanted to?
Why do I still struggle with it?

Be gone, pressure for perfection!

As I mentioned in a previous post, I bought myself a nice new journal. It’s real leather and it’s gorgeous – I love it! However, it’s so beautiful I don’t want to ruin it by writing anything dumb in it.

There’s so much internal pressure in journaling to write something worthy.

Pressure to craft something beautiful, wistful, smart… something that you could go back and read someday and think, Wow, I’m glad I wrote that.

I’ll get out my fancy leather journal, pen poised over it, wishing I could think of something worthwhile to say. And it keeps me from actually writing anything.

I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with nice journals – they’re fantastic.

But if it’s keeping you from writing, try buying a cheaper or generic journal. Walmart has some great ones. In fact the journal I use most often is a kind of ugly one my sister bought me. (No offense, Anna.. it’s a great journal. 😉)

Release yourself from the pressure. Write down whatever comes to mind and see what happens. Doodle pictures in the margins. Just write something. Sometimes those journal entries are my favorite to go back and read.

But what should I write about??

I’ve found that I love reading back on my life.

And my favorite things to read back on are not lists of what I did or where I went or what I ate.

I prefer reading back on what I was thinking, what I was feeling, and what Jesus was speaking to me.

If you find it stifling (or even boring) to merely write about what you did during a day, try looking internally and writing down what you find there.

Fear of the blank page…

A lot of you are writers. You will understand this. The fresh excitement and anticipation that comes with wanting to write something begins to fizzle away when a blank page is staring into your very soul.

The solution? Start writing. Fill up a page or two and the rest gets easier. The more you write in your journals, you’ll get the hang of your personal journaling style and it will get easier.

A tip – I’ve found that I am infinitely more inspired to journal when I’m outdoors. Try sitting on a porch or taking a walk with your journal. Try to write down what you see and hear, what stands out to you. Why does it stand out to you? How does it make you feel?

There’s nobody telling you how to do your personal journaling. Do it the way that brings you the most joy!

How do I journal personally?

The way I journal is like I’m talking to Jesus. I guess you could call it a prayer journal. I don’t really think of it like that – to me, it’s just me sharing my heart with the One who created me. It feels natural. .

My journaling has led to some intimate moments with Jesus – when I feel a connection between us and I know he’s there, reading the words as I write them.

I’ll write for a bit, then sit still and listen. What do I hear him speaking to me? I write that down. Sometimes it’s something as simple as “I love you” – others, he tells me something personal and profound.

And the best part? I have a record of it all.

I love going back and reading through my journal, because I am able to see how I’ve grown in my spiritual life.

Conclusion

If you’re like me and have always loved the idea of journaling but don’t do it often enough, I hope this post has inspired you to get back into it. Even if you just journal once or twice a week, it’s a great way to not only keep a record of your life, but to get into the habit of writing frequently. On days that I don’t do any story writing at all, I can at least say I filled three pages of my journal. 😉

I hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know in the comments how you personally journal! Did these ideas work for you?