Why You Think You Can’t Journal
Welcome to day 2 of the Journaling 101 Challenge. If you have no idea what I’m talking about you are going to want to check out yesterday’s introduction post.
Today’s post will probably be the hardest post to read out of all the posts this week. This is for anyone reading this that has never journaled, or feel like they aren’t good at it. I’m going to be busting the most common excuses given for not journaling. I’m doing this all out of love though. I’ve personally experienced how transformative journaling can be, I want that for you too.
4 Excuses People Give For Not Journaling
“I’m not a writer”
I’m starting off with a big one! You don’t have to be this prolific writer to enjoy journaling. This is the whole basis of this challenge. Journaling can look like anything you want it to. If you can write two pages, great. If you can come up with one sentence, still great. Honestly it doesn’t even need to be full sentences, or even words -I’m looking at you doodlers. The whole point of journaling is to process what is inside your head. That process is different for everyone.
“I don’t have the time”
Life gets busy, especially now that life is getting back to somewhat normal. The beauty about journaling is that you can fit it in whenever. You don’t have to spend a lot of time journaling. If you want to, and you have the time, then I say go for it. Even if you only have five minutes, that’s enough time to journal.
Another important thing to remember is that you don’t have to be perfect. If there are days that you don’t journal, that’s totally okay. The last thing you want to do is put pressure on yourself and treat journaling like an assignment. It doesn’t become enjoyable when you do that.
“I don’t have anything to write about”
You are going to get stumped on what to write some days, maybe even most days. I have times that I get stumped and I have been journaling for years. There are ways to get around that though.
I think what trips us up is the belief that we have to have a huge breakthrough everytime. Sometimes just writing down your to-do list is a good way to unscramble your mind. There is nothing special about that, but it works. My default when I don’t know what to write is to write about my day. Depending on the time of day it’s either a reflection or an anticipation of what’s to come. That is why I made that the first of the week-long journal prompts. It’s a great way to ease into journaling, and fall back to if you need.
“Journaling isn’t important”
If you’ve never journaled before it can be hard to think it can be that impactful. I get that, but there are actually several reasons why journaling is important. I’ll be going over all of them in tomorrow’s post.
I hope you feel a little more confident about your ability to start journaling after reading this. Head over to Instagram to get your Daily Journal Prompt.
