I finished another journal. This doesn’t happen every day, so it feels like kind of an accomplishment. Except this one took me only just over a year, so it feels like less of a big deal than the one that took me four years to complete. Or the one that took me three years. Or the one that took me a year and a half.
I have become a more dedicated journaler in the last couple years, but when I bought my most recent journal–a Moleskine folio with tiny ruling and no margins–I thought I would probably still be writing in it when I was 70. I was intimidated and at first hesitant to record my nonsense thoughts on its nice cream-colored pages. Obviously, I got over that quickly and wrote like a crazy person this year.
I find journaling really interesting as a medium, but mostly I do it because I don’t know how not to. A big part of living, to me, is writing about my experiences. It is the only way I know how to make sense of my feelings. Whatever happens, I always have this space to myself. It is never an obligation, but always a comfort.
I tried for a while to keep a log book in addition to a journal, but found it just was not for me. I am happy with my current practice, but I have been thinking of ways I might give a more complete picture of my life. I have considered including pieces of conversations and challenging myself to write about things I have avoided and maybe at least once in a while giving hints about what I’m actually doing in my daily life. Maybe press a flower or two. We’ll see!
For anyone who cares about these things as much as Linda and I do, I decided to go with the intimidating Moleskine folio again.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
I love journaling. I haven’t kept up with it as much recently, but I finished two journals through college, and am almost finished with my third. I have another one I’m working on as well, but it’s a journal for a writing book I’m working through. I have one more lined up once I’m done with this last one. So you like the moleskine? Are they hard to keep open as you write? I have this thing about my journals being cooperative and laying flat, so that I can write easily in them.
I’m giving you a nice, slow golf clap of appreciation. Bravo to you for filling it up! I’ve never completed a journal. I’ve sworn up and down that my current one must reach the final page before I buy another. And I like those kinds of details :)
Congratulations! Love this. Love your photo! I often write a cheesy “goodbye” entry at the close of a journal. I reflect on what all has happened since the start.
For my birthday I think I’m going to buy myself a label maker so I can date the spines of my journals. Too much?
I’m still upset that 3 pages in I skipped two pages inadvertently. Maybe I’ll write “Do not write in this space.” But that would probably make me twitchy too.
::applause:: This is awesome! I haven’t finished a journal since high school… I should really get on that. I neglected journaling for blogging because, let’s face it, I wasn’t taking the time to write and think out the things I needed to say. But now I need to think out all the things, so it seems like the perfect time to go back to journaling. Maybe a Moleskine folio is in my future for this exact purpose?! :)
Woot woot! I was an everyday journaler for years and then fell off the wagon the past year or two. I’ve started taking it up again and having proper pens and journals I feel are the most important parts of successful journaling. Up until this year, my frugal sense kept me from buying Moleskin journals because I felt like it was an unneccessary expense so I bought whatever I could find at local discount paper spots. Now that I’m getting back into regular journaling, I wasn’t inspired by the random flowery things so a Moleskin is on my purchase list for the next paycheck :)
PS your hair looks great wavy!
I think it’d be really interesting to see your process for your journal. What I mean, is that with keeping your blog up to date, and keeping a journal. Are you carrying ideas from the journal over to the blog? Or vice versa? I just think understanding about how your creative process works would be really interesting.
I find journaling fascinating, and I wish I had the discipline to do it. I think it would be neat to have a record of my thoughts and feelings. I have a Moleskine that I use mostly as a log book or to make lists—love it. If I were going to journal I would buy a Moleskine.
I can’t journal without writing about my daily life, because mostly when I journal I’m writing my feelings – usually anger or sadness. I don’t know how to journal any other way. I don’t have super deep connections with anything, and I don’t ponder much about the world outside of my world. I don’t know how. Whenever you write about journaling I think to myself that I would probably enjoy reading them, because I imagine that, like your blog, they would offer such a different view of the world than what I’m used to.
It’s always a great feeling to finish up a journal like that. I think I’m going to have a long way to go until I get to feel that again! I just started journaling again after taking a few months away from it and it’s feeling good. Such a different medium than writing in my online (private) journal or on my blog.
I used to be an avid journaler. Lately it’s slacked… I noticed that when I first started blogging. But more so lately. The funny ing now is that my journal’s cover says “f*ck you and your blog”… Too much of it became me whining about boys. I even took a huge black sharpie to it and marked out parts that didn’t reflect the person I wanted to be. Now I find the times I most want to write are when my heart is full of either joy or pain. So it’s still too much boy talk… So it mostly sits in waiting….
That thing is massive. You are a journaling animal. And I’m off to google image that.
Update: I am very disappointed in the results.
The gratification of expressing your thoughts through this media is built on your experiences.Every one you finish is a reason to keep on writing.The more you write the easier it is to lighten your emotional baggage.
I don’t keep my thoughts I burn them once the journal is full.My way of only looking forward.That’s what I tell myself!
I have never set a time-line because I knew I would never be finished so long as I have experiences to write about. In the Army I could write a journal every other month. In school this was every half year.On my travels that was never. Today I just write when I have an experience from my past I want to share on my blog.
Three cheers for Ashley with a whistle in between.
Yay! I find journaling a) intimidating and b) I tend to I guess get bored with it pretty quickly/forget about it/run out of time for it. But it’s exciting to see someone can actually finish a journal.. you may inspired me to try it out again! Thanks!
Can we talk about how much I love your hair in this photo?