So many of us fall off the journaling wagon or we don’t even start because we haven’t identified and connected with our purpose for journaling – our reason for journaling – OUR WHY.
Activity without purpose is the drain of your life.
Tony Robbins
YOUR WHY is what you want to get from journaling.
Why do you want to do it? What do you hope to gain?
If you don’t know WHY you want to journal it will be a drain as Tony Robbins says. And you will likely start and stop fairly quickly, or never start and just keep thinking what a great idea it is, or you start and feel like giving up after a few days.
This is why looking at your WHY is the most important thing you need to know before you start journaling (or restart).
Once you’re clear on your WHY you’ll have your purpose and purpose is what drives you.
Your WHY – your REASON for journaling - will be what brings you back to the page over and over again.
Now there are heaps of reasons why people journal – it’s highly personal.
But I'll tell you MY WHY.
My journaling practice started about 17 years ago. At the time I was feeling a bit lost and burnt out after having my first writing project published – Note to Self. The purpose of the journaling was to help me recover my creativity and joy after putting so much for so long into it.
But after that my REASON changed, and it changed to suit my circumstances.
As you might realise I live with a chronic pain issue that is extremely debilitating at times and has been very tricky to diagnose and treat. My new reason for journaling was that I needed a place that was safe and private to express and explore and validate my experience which involved a lot of deep emotional pain – grief and sadness and anger and fear – sometimes too raw to share with others so I needed my own space and place to do that. This went on for many years and still does.
Fast forward to 2018 when I discovered a cancerous lump in my breast – illness of an acute nature that was confronting and quite different to manage and come to terms with so there was a whole lot of journaling throughout that period.
And there have been stacks of other things I’ve needed to journal my way through – other losses, and milestone events and Covid and moving house, navigating life cycle changes and parenting and relationship challenges… just regular life changes and challenges.
But for me now, no matter what THE WHAT – the content – the reason and purpose remains the same:
I go to the journal to validate, acknowledge, express, process, clarify, comfort and celebrate.
Journaling for me is my place of refuge.
This is MY WHY…but we’re all different.
If you want to get clear on your WHY check out the eBook I made called Start Journaling Today!