Chey’s obsessive guide to journaling

Dear diary, sorry to part ways with the childhood nostalgia that makes so many think of you, but journaling is not limited to you. Journaling can be taken far beyond the scope of just writing in one’s diary, though there is absolutely nothing wrong with a diary. Here is my guide to journaling in 2019.

1. Basic Journal (diary): this is the journal where I spill all my thoughts and feelings as if a bottle of tequila has taken over my last functioning brain cell. When I first started journaling, I actually didn’t start here. I started with a journal for poetry, which was what motivated me to start exploring journaling. For me, I tend to focus on two things in this journal: release and evaluate. As people, it’s important to know how to share our feelings and communicate with others, but how often do we work on sharing our feelings and communicating with ourselves? This is where release comes in. I find my thoughts much easier to organize and share with others once I’ve written them down and practiced articulating them in a way that makes sense to me. And once the release has taken place, whether it be on paper or not, sometimes it’s necessary to evaluate. I use this journal for a lot of reflection, not only of myself, but of those I choose to surround myself with and all that takes place around me too. This journal houses my most unfiltered thoughts and feelings.

2. Poetry Journal: as the name implies, this is where my poetry lives. When I was a freshman in high school, I had been writing poetry sporadically for about a year, and I came across a tutor who turned out to be the first adult that I’d share my poetry with. She later gave me a customized journal that I could dedicate to my poetry. At first, I wrote all my poems here, but as you may know, most poets are never quite satisfied with their work. Because of how many rounds of edits I would go through for each poem, and because I did not carry this journal everywhere with me, I began writing poems in my Notes App on my iPhone. Eventually, it became routine for me to write a poem on my phone, edit it an obsessive amount of times, and then write it down in my poetry journal with a pencil (this is the only place I will ever write in pencil). This allows me to keep my poetry with me and work on it at all times but still have a special place dedicated to the matured versions of each poem I write. 

3. Religious/Spiritual Journal: the realm where my deepest, most complex questions and ideas often lie. I started this journal while I was at church camp, mostly because I bought the physical journal even though I already had two other journals sitting in my cabin that weren’t yet full. This is when it really became a thing for me to try and designate each new journal I got, from that point on, with a specific purpose. In the beginning, this journal was a place for me to write my thoughts and questions about religion, and then it became a place for my prayers as well. This model can be used for any higher power that one believes in, or for someone who isn’t sure. It’s simply a space to examine and expand on your faith.

4. Travel Journal: the journal where, in theory, I would write about all of my travel experiences and adventures. This is a journal that own but have yet to start. But, in my head, it’s a central place to remember all of my trips and new experiences.

5. Gratitude Journal: arguably, my most important journal. I was gifted a fill-in journal from my mom that was focused on gratitude. When I ran out of space in the original one I received, this inspired me to create my own gratitude journal. In the original version, there was a space to fill in something you are grateful for each morning. At night, there would be a different question about gratitude to fill in, and there were also monthly reflection questions. In my version, each night and each morning I take a page and write down something I am grateful for. It might be a one-word answer, or it might fill the whole page, but I always start off with the phrase “I am grateful for….” I think this journal is especially important, because if nothing else, we should be able to connect with gratitude for our lives and what we have, regardless of what we may lack, because it’s quite easy to get caught up in the business of life and forget to actively practice gratitude.

6. Prompted Journals: where I can expand my thinking without thinking too much. Often times, I find that I want to write, but I don’t know what to write. That’s when these come in handy. I have two journals, one “300 Writing Prompts,” and the other “3000 Questions About You” that are a lot of fun for me. They have small spaces to fill in questions and prompts with your responses. I say it’s the perfect place to expand your thinking without thinking too much because the prompts are very random and can pose questions you’ve never thought about, but because they’re pre-written, you don’t have to do the work of creating your own topic to write about. 

7. Quotes Journal: where I take whatever I like from whoever I want to take from. Another personal favorite –  this journal is where I write down all of the quotes, passages, etc. that I love and don’t want to lose. Whether it be the content or the writing style that I admire, I tend to write a lot of quotes that give me hope or remind me of things that I want to carry with me always. Sometimes though, I do write quotes that I simply feel resonate deeply with me in a way that others do not. 

8. Everything Journal: where everything collides. This is the journal where no rules apply. Because I got tired of lugging a minimum of three journals with me everywhere I go, and, because I began running out of ideas for what to dedicate new journals to, I decided that I could write anything here. So, this is the journal I take everywhere now and write everything in. If I need to write a poem by hand, spill my feelings, take notes for work, practice gratitude, or anything at all, and I’m not at home with all of journals at my disposal, my everything journal will take the place of all the others. 

Well, this turned out to be a long list, and I didn’t even cover half of the possibilities! The possibilities with journaling are endless. No matter what your life or your path in life is like, you can design a way to journal that fills any of your personal needs. Please feel free to steal and improve any of my journaling habits and don’t ever be afraid to create your own.