Journaling: A Thought Daughter's Vessel

Hello beautiful! Today's post is about one of my favorite hobbies: journaling! I started journaling almost a year ago, just to document my life, so I could read my past journals and look back on my life. Now, journaling means so much more to me, and it's one of my favorite hobbies. I have a bullet journal for cute collages and spreads to get my ideas on a page, and I also have a journal for my thoughts where I write recaps of my day and respond to prompts that make me think. That's part of what I love about journaling; it doesn't have to be its own strict medium. You can make your journal your own with stickers, ribbon, photos, doodles, or whatever you want.

I'm the type of person that spends time thinking about EVERYTHING. There is truly no limit to where my mind can wander. Journaling helps me organize my ideas on paper instead of having the bounce around in my brain.

Why I LOVE Journaling

You've probably heard that journaling is good for your mental health, but have you ever thought about why? The main reason for me is that when I journal, I get to know myself better. I'm more aware of my thoughts and emotions. When I think reflect on my day, I'm thinking about how I felt and how I acted because of that. I feel more in control when I acknowledge all of the part of me that appear during my day. My writing journal serves as an archive of all my personality traits from different eras of my life.

Your Journal is YOUR Journal

For those of you who already have a journal or are interested in starting a journal, your journal is for you and no one else. That means you write what you want to write, draw what you want to draw, and share it with the people that you want. I've seen so many times in TV shows or movies that parents and siblings think it's okay to read someone's diary without asking them. This has to be one of my main beefs with Disney Channel shows (jk, I love Liv and Maddie). Personally, I write about a lot of my private emotions in my journal, so I'm not really comfortable with anyone else reading it.

If you feel the same way, it's important that you set those boundaries with your family and friends. One of the reasons I think journaling is so effective is that it feels like I'm letting all of my emotions out AS IF I was actually speaking to someone. The feelings that I put in my journal are the feelings that I don't want to speak about out loud, so if someone were to read it without my permission, I would feel like someone just opened up my skull and looked at my brain without my permission.

PROTECT YOUR JOURNALS LADIES!

I also want to make the point that your journal doesn't have to be pretty for anyone else. I get a lot of my inspiration for projects off Pinterest, so I always see the aesthetic journaling photos as well. They are absolutely gorgeous, and sometimes I base my journal pages on them. But, I try not to copy them exactly.

I think journaling has turned into something that heavily romanticized to the point where it can feel weird make a journal entry that doesn't look like the work of Picasso himself. I won't lie; it is so much fun to make beautiful spreads and collages with highlighters and multicolored pens and all of that. But aesthetics shouldn't be the only reason why you journal, especially if you're just copying pages from Pinterest or Instagram. Once again, your journal is for you and no one else. If you like having your journal be pretty and aesthetic, there is nothing wrong with that! I enjoy it as well. But, there should be an actual point to everything that you put in there, whether it's a book review, a bucket list, or a recap of your day.

My Book Review for The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

So, if you're someone that has many tabs open in their brain at once, or if you need a place to vent after a long day at school or work, journaling might be something that could help. If you like making collages or doodling, bullet journaling or scrapbooking could be a new hobby for you.

Thank you so much for making it to the end of this post! I know it was a lot different than some of my other posts, and it was really just me talking about one of my favorite hobbies. But, I hope you enjoyed it, and be sure to come back next week for another post!

Remember, if you ever feel like you need a hand, girl, let me help!