My Three Journal System
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to move past “dear diary” journaling.
I have kept a journal all through growing up and into my late twenties, and admittedly often found myself thinking “What am I doing this for?” “why am I writing?”
Recently, I was cleaning out my office/studio and paused on my journals. I can’t seem to throw them away. They fill a milk crate, they’re heavy, and annoying to move. They’re almost never opened and so there’s a part of me that would love to free up the space, where another part demands they continue to live on.
I’m glad I wrote all those years. I was intentional enough to document some major moments in my life. Those peaks and valleys that will forever stick with me. By having kept these journals I’ll have some sort of reference to maintain the clarity of the memory.
As I grow older, it seems as though my days fill up months in advance, and so I’ve become a morning girl. Like, an alarm goes off between four and five a.m. kind of morning girl! I’ve fallen in love with this time because no one else seems to be awake to demand my attention. Historically I will work out after about two cups of coffee are running through my veins. There’s a chance I’ll read, or more likely make my husband breakfast before he runs out the door.
What I’m saying is, I don’t have time to sit and write like I used to. I want to continue this practice but if the expectation is anything beyond 5 minutes, it just won’t happen. I want the most bang for my buck out of those few minutes, and to look back on something of substance, self-development, or exploration. I hope to look back and remember exactly who I was on those dates. AND I want to see how I do (or do not) change over the years.
I hope to look back and remember exactly who I was on those dates.
Motivations. Likes. Disciplines. Relationships. Viewpoints. Values. Interests. Definitions of success… they all change. Different seasons demand different versions of ourselves and I want to document those shifts.
So I created a three-journal system.
One for gratitude
A 5-Minute-a-Day Journal
A general one for free-form writing/sketching
The 5-minute-a-day dot journal I have is the main attraction. The gratitude and the free-form writing/sketching ones are on a “need-to-know basis.” The dot journal is yellow, has a lot of pages, and has a nice table of contents I can fill out. The paper is smooth and my felt tip Sharpie pen doesn’t bleed through. It’s an Amazon win!
I divide each page into three sections. I think it’s something like 12-15 rows each. On the top of the page I’ll write the prompt and the date, each highlighted. The prompt is in yellow, and the date is in green. From there I’ll fill in the top third section of the page. If I feel a prompt deserves more than five minutes I’ll continue the writing in the free-form journal. Although this is rare.
This journal is meant to move through three different cycles. These could be years, or simply until I get the the last page and start again. Once I complete the last page’s prompt, I go back to the beginning and start again. This time, I’ll re-read the prompt at the top of the page, and write the new date, highlight it in green, and the new answer. Moving through each page just as I had the cycle before until I reached the last prompt… and start again.
In the end, I will have a handwritten document of myself over the three cycles. I’m nostalgic, and I know in my old wrinkly era, I will be proud of the woman I was. I will have proof.
Sign up to get my own curated journal prompts every Monday morning
Don’t waste time wondering what to write.
