Journaling

Why should someone keep a journal?  

Frankly, by this point, everyone knows the answers to that question. There have been a number of studies on the benefits of journaling. My favorite was published in PsychCenteral (https://psychcentral.com/lib/the-health-benefits-of-journaling/) and lists the following as the primary benefits that someone can gain from the act of journaling.

• Clarify your thoughts and feelings
• Know yourself better
• Reduce Stress
• Solve problems more effectively
• Resolve disagreements with others

All of these are important things, and can lead you to a happier, and healthier lifestyle. And can bring you to a closer walk with Christ. 

We know this. We get it. 

And a quick search tells us this over and over again. 

But what so few tell us, is what does keeping a journal mean.  How should we do this? Is it different than a diary? 

And the reason for that, is because the answer is it depends.  

Journals can be as varied as a daily diary, to a simple record of exactly what someone has eaten. There are varied and different reasons for keeping this journal, and each carries different needs and solutions. 

But there are a number of things that could be considered common and shared traits, no matter the type of journaling you are doing. 

1. Date it.  This will allow you to know when you wrote this, even years afterwards. 
2. Be truthful.  Fundamentally, a journal is primarily for yourself. You should never lie to yourself. 
3. Show details.  Be specific. Don't just say you had dinner, tell yourself about how tender the steak was. 

But despite everything I've said above, despite harping on the benefits to journaling, there is something to remember: it doesn't matter what you do. Whether you're using pen and paper, or a blogging platform (or my preference of Evernote), it doesn't matter. Type 15 words or 1,500. Draw a picture. Draw a picture and write 500 words.  

It's all good.

And that's what was my biggest handicap every time I tried to start journaling on a consistent basis. I would end up more stressed, and overly anxious as I looked at the screen or the notebook when it was time to journal. I felt that I had to write beautiful stories, themed entries that told a comprehensive whole. That I had to use perfect grammar and spelling. That I couldn't miss a day. That my journal had to be perfect. 

I understand now, and leave the grammar and spell checks to my blog entries and the documents I write professionally. My journal is just that, mine. It's about me. The good, and the bad.  And flaws are just sometimes a part of that. 

In fact, here's what I wrote down just a few days ago:

2325
Sadly, today was a standard day for me. wake up, go to work, return home. dinner, and then prep for bedtimes, and do a bit more work.  Overall though, my kids are healthy, my wife is healthy, and life is in general good. 

Probably the best part of the day is that the wife came down and we had lunch at the Tin Shed. Sadly, her pork loin was a bit overdone (an oddity for them) but my pulled pork nachos were as great as ever.  Dinner was teriyaki chicken my wife made from scratch. She's getting better and better at that every time.  

And I do feel the need to explain a bit. I use Evernote to journal, and it's a mix of both the things I've done/doing professionally, as well as my private thoughts/diary. Each day gets its own Note, with the note having this format:

1. Immediate Todo List
2. Notes
3. Pending Tasks
4. Diary
5. End of Day Overview

The diary section can have multiple items added to it throughout the day as I stop and think about something. Or it could end up with nothing on some days. And that's the beauty of that. Finally, I've made the Evernote template that I use for this available for others here: http://www.evernote.com/l/APhi4jEECyZBGp59Z_2aSRsosjiPfe97Jl4/.