Journalling
Journalling
There are so many benefits of journalling. One being I can use all my notebooks I have bought! I have so many! My hubby once counted how many I had in one cupboard. It was a lot! He hadn't even counted them in the other cupboard!
I love the idea of journalling being a way of delving into your mind and emotions and bringing everything out in the open. But only onto the paper! So into the semi open!
As we pour out our feelings, we get a second look at them, a chance to think about them. Sometimes we might read out our words. That does help sometimes too.
I love the idea of listening to yourself. Just like you listen to others with empathy, it is really important you do this for yourself too. Your inner voice needs to be kind.
I love the idea of being your own best friend too. You show unconditional love to your friends and family. You need to do this with yourself too.
When I think of my journalling, I have done this for years. Maybe not as structured as the journalling of the modern, hectic day but some sort of writing down of feelings and events, to help me figure things out as a teenager. To relive lovely moments again. I loved writing in a diary back in my teens.
My diary was full of little anecdotes, funny moments, times my crush turned around in Maths to see me gawping at him, instead of listening to the thrilling numbers being thrown across the room. Love this from pinterest. Brings back memories of doodling in my diary, in the backs of exercise books and bookmarks! I still doodle now if I am in meetings or at college!
I loved my diary and my bestie and I would go to our local park. Or I would sit in my bedroom, listening to Debbie Gibson whilst I relayed a conversation with a boy who didn't know I liked him. Ooh, the angst of a teenager! Your feelings at any time of life are valued but there is something so real and deep about the feelings of a teenager, moving from the safety and protection of childhood, from the simplicity of everything to this new, exciting but often scary world of teenagedom. Yes, it was fab having the fun and freedom but there was so much drama too!
It was so important, at that time to write out my feelings, as well as talk them out with family and friends. Love this idea of off loading the problems that are weighing you down, onto paper, leaving you feeling lighter.
There is something so special about having a secret diary. The compact pages holding onto your inner most thoughts, happy and sad. It was lovely having that special time, pen in hand, feeling my emotions flow onto the page.
I love this quote because writing down your worries and anxieties does help. You can write anything, knowing no one will judge you or question your feelings. When I was hurt or confused, I would write the hurt away.
Another lovely quote from these on pinterest is this. I think it sums up the personal writing so well. I went through a traumatic period as a teenager and often wrote about the trauma of losing my amazing dad.
I loved reading 'The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole' and laughed so much. All my friends were reading it. We all had spots and other teenage worries but he brought out the funny side of it all. Then it became a funny tv series. I read the sequal too called 'Growing pains'.
I have seen the more recent ones as Adrian Mole grew up and would love to read these too. 'The Wilderness Years' and 'The Cappucinno Years' look good but I do prefer a flat white!
I remember adding this book to my Goodreads too. You are never too old to write a diary or get up to stuff that are worthy of being written up!
I suppose I have always been a writer. I have always loved writing from being little. Reading too. I always had notebooks, stationery and clipboards. I would walk around as a child, clipboard in hand, pretending I was working in an office or a school. I would sit at the table or my desk, writing away, all my precious pens and pencils creating magic on the paper.
I have always had a vivid imagination and loved reading. I always had my nose in a book and day dreamed often. This has only got more frequent the older I have become!
I was one of those girls, like Anne of Green Gables who was always imagining and making stories up in my head. Anne got through life by having a 'scope for the imagination' and I loved her for that.
I love this pinterest quote from one of my favourite literary heroines, Anne with an e.
I still am 'away with the fairies'. That's what a lot of my teachers said. I still do have these moments! Like the other day, strolling to my car, key ready to put in the lock when I looked and saw a man sat in the driver's seat. I was so embarrassed and when I said I thought it was my car, he looked at his, then mine, same make and colour, as if to say his was much better. I pointed out they did have the colour in common, if not the dents!
At uni, I studied English and wrote my feelings as modern poems. I did most of my reading and writing on the train, penning my modern, angst ridden, sometimes hard hitting, other times nostalgic poems on the train and as well as using these for my degree, they really helped me.
Love this artwork too from Gocase and Bruno Riveria art on pinterest. There is something so soothing about a train journey. Looking out of the window at the scenery rolling by. Collecting your thoughts and being 'in the moment'. Such a good place to read and write and be creative.
Writing was, and still is so therapeutic. Everyone has their own ways of dealing with the everyday stresses and strains of life. Mine is to dog walk, see family and friends, listen to music, read my books and write. If possible, try and find some time, each day to help you relax and feel good.
I love being settled with my book, my cuppa and my doggy. If this is what makes you feel better after a long, stressful day, then do it. It might be a bike ride, running fast or a swim. It might be crocheting, painting or baking. Do what calms and inspires you.
So now, I do some journalling, using a few set books. I haven't done any lately and need to restart using these lovely books.
This next quote really shows how journalling can help the ruminators of this world, me included! I am an over thinker. I love the word ruminate itself! I am not as bad as I was. I used to over analyse conversations at work, down to the looks people gave me. I would text folk that when I said this or that, I didn't mean it in a funny way. They would text back and had clearly forgotten our conversation! I am better at parking stuff from work at the door, when I go home!
As well as ruminating, I have a tendency to catastrophise on the odd occasion. My imagination, you see! Lots of 'what ifs?' running about your head are not good. They need answering. Journal them. Turn them into 'they might never happens'. Write out your anxiety. When our thought processes are all muddled and we don't know what to do first, list it out!
Lists are a good way of writing down and prioritising our tasks when we feel overwhelmed. They can work really well in reordering your thoughts. They did for me, before procrastination took over and I would jump the list to the nicer, creative tasks when I was teaching, leaving the data and tables until the end!
So, my main journalling, for the last few years, has been writing my blog. It started off as a tearoom blog then supporting local and handmade. It then became a way for me to get stuff out of my head onto paper! Stuff that other folk could relate to, like my Mid life crisis blog! Then, I started writing a bit more deeper and covering mindfulness and de-stressing. It has helped me so much. The main thing, I feel, is that when I am writing my blogs, I am in tune with myself. I love this from Monhi art on pinterest.
If we are going to start delving into our thoughts and actions, we really need to be honest with ourselves. We need to get to the nitty gritty! But remembering also to keep that sense of humour!
I have actually written a Bridget Jones Diary blog. I loved reading the books by Helen Fielding, as a twenty something and laughed out loud at the stuff she got up to. She was definitely honest with herself! This was the edition I had. I remember the facts she had at the start of each extract.
I think it was-
Glasses of wine drunk: 3
Calorie intake: 900
Cigarettes smoked: 15
Swear words uttered: 40
Or something like that!
I also loved watching the films with Renee Zellwegger, Colin Firth and Hugh Grant. Such a fab cast.
Her diary extracts were so real and showed how women feel pressure to have it all. The perfect weight, career and man! She was so loveable and we all cried and sang along with her and her friends throughout. We all rooted for her to get her man. Which she did! But then, he was lucky to get her too! I loved how Colin Firth played both Mr Darcy on Pride and Prejudice and on this film!
My blogs are a mixture of happy, funny and real life. They can be gritty one moment then playful the next. All of them, are genuine feelings and how I felt at the time. In all of them, my sense of humour shines through. I find it balances out the sadder, more down parts of my blog. I write about what makes me tick and what makes me happy, like books, my dog and dog walks, coffee shops, family and friends, handmade and local culture. There is so much to be thankful for. Journal it as a daily reminder!
They are also very nostalgic. I love wearing my rose tinted glasses!
When I am feeling a bit overwhelmed or anxious, I go back and read some of them. This always makes me smile and lifts me up. You see, when you write a blog, you read it as a writer but then you get to revisit it as a reader!
So true! Another good read.
ReplyDeleteThankyou very much!
DeleteI used to have a journal until I was a young wife :-)...now , in the last years, I would like to start again, but didn't do.
ReplyDeleteMiriam
Ooh yes you can start writing again!
Delete