Being confused on how to journal isn’t an uncommon feeling. Honestly, journaling isn’t something that comes naturally to most people. To sit down and write about how you feel, something you’re going through, or just about your day can even seem pointless. But I assure you that building a meaningful journaling practice is far from a waste of time. So in this post, I’m sharing how to journal, and 6 easy tips to help you get started.

How To Journal The “Right Way”

I know this probably isn’t the answer you are looking for but there is no right or wrong way to journal. It’s a very personal activity, so it’s completely up to you how you do it. With that being said, I know that doesn’t give much information, especially to beginners. But that would be the point.

You see, it’s important to build your journaling practice in a way that suited for you. I can’t tell you how to journal in a way thats best for you. We have different lives, different priorities and are going through different things. What’s good for me may not be good for you. And to be transparent, how I journal now is completely different from how I journaled a year ago and it will probably be different next year.

So you can see how journaling is personal and specific to you. You just have to kind your flow and style that’s best for you. It may take a few writing sessions to really start to understand the way you like to journal, but you first have to start to get to a point of understanding what you like.

Benefits Of Journaling

I wanted to quickly talk about the benefits of journaling and expectations. If you have been around and searched journaling at some point, you may have come across someone telling you that journaling is life changing and its turned their life around.

I am completely skeptical when I come across these accusations. I don’t think that people are out to lie about journaling, but as someone that has journaled for over 20 years, I can’t exactly say that the act of journaling has changed my life. At least not in the context in which I hear most people say it has for them.

The truth, at least in my opinion and experience is that journaling MIGHT change you, overtime. It’s kinda hard to say how you might change or if you will at all. But what I know for sure is that building a meaning journaling practice will most definitely enrich your life and bring value to it in some way.

How To Journal – 6 Journaling Tips For Beginners

Journal When You Can

Some people say you should journal first thing in the morning or sometime during the early morning hours. This can be a good time to journal, but if it doesn’t fit into your schedule, do it when you can. There is no need to try and force yourself to journal at an inconvenient time. You’ll just end up quitting. To build a solid journaling practice, you need to find what works for you and that includes journaling at a time that works for you.

You Only Need One Journal (at least starting out)

Having multiply journals may sound tempting if you’re trying different methods journaling. But keeping up with several journals can make the process complicated and frustrating.

I’ve tried this and I spent a good amount of time trying to figure out which journal I need to choose for what I wanted to write about. So as of now, I have one journal for everything which just makes thing way more simple.

Don’t Over Think Your Writing

Overthinking could be the reason you’re here. Like I said before, journaling isn’t something that comes easily to everyone. So starting out, don’t put too much focus on who, what, when, where, and how. Just start writing about any and everything. Eventually, you will learn how you like to journal. You’ll even learn when you need or want to journal. Which is a big step in learning about yourself and knowing when writing is going to be beneficial to you.

Don’t Worry About How Much To Write

I think you maybe seeing a theme here, but how much you write depends on how much you want to write. Even more so, how much you feel Ike writing.

I never go into journaling think I’m going to write any amount of pages. I just write until I have nothing more to say. Sometimes I unexpectedly write several pages, others I write one paragraph, or sentence. There have been times I’ve only written one word.
So don’t focus too much on how much you write. Just try to be meaningful in what you write no matter the length.

Be Honest When You’re Writing

There is no point in lying to yourself because it defeats the purpose of being able to sort thoughts and situations.

And I know it can be difficult to write about certain things going on in your life. And my advice to that is to not write about it. If you can’t write the truth, then there isn’t a point in trying to journal about it. It won’t help you, and it may even make it worse because you won’t be able to get a clear understanding.

Also, think of your journal as your friend. Remember, this is for you and no one else. You can write and be honest without judgement. This is why journaling can be a good outlet to be able to write and get things out of your head and on paper.

And remember, just because you are going through something in life doesn’t mean you have to journal about it.

Don’t Worry About Mistakes

I hate to say never but never go back and fix mistakes such as punctuation, misspelled words or sentence structure. This will mess up your flow of writing and thought process.

Journaling is a good practice that can help you learn to let go of perfectionism. You will make mistakes, and that’s ok. There are so many things in life that we have to get right or make as perfect as we can. Allowing your journaling practice to be a place where it’s ok to not be perfect.

Journaling For Beginners

I hope you can take the information in this post and start journaling. Don’t put too much pressure on yourself to get it right, because there is no right or wrong way to journal. Your practice will be completely what you develop it to be.