I watched Bridget Jones' Diary last night, and it got me thinking about starting up a diary/journal again. The trouble is, I NEVER stick with them. If I start one, I may use it for a couple of weeks, and then I slowly stop... I'm rubbish!! By the time I'm ready for bed I'm too tired to spend time writing in my journal. And because my journal would stay at home, I wouldn't be able to write in it throughout the day as I think of interesting things to say; and I have a bad memory so it's difficult for me to even remember what events happened that day! So I really am not a good journal-writer. I really can't assign a whole, beautiful, expensive notebook or journal to a diary that probably won't even last more than 2 weeks.
Plus, I'm not the sort of person to indulge my feelings like that. I feel like it's a waste of ink and paper for me, as I DEFINITELY don't intend on reading it in the future. But... maybe it will be kind of cathartic for me. Living at home, where I feel like I can't express my opinions or my dad will shout at me (he has his opinions, and I'm not allowed mine if they contradict his, seriously!!), I think I need somewhere to get rid of those pent-up feelings. Somewhere to write with lots of capital letters and exclamation points! Maybe even somewhere to doodle my feelings away. Plus, I kind of like the idea of sitting in my cosy pjs and writing in my diary :)
| (minus the alcohol) |
So I thought... if I don't want to spend money on a journal or notebook, I should use the resources I already have. And what do I have a LOT of? Filofaxes!!
Just think about it: a journal filofax. I can write as much or as little for a specific day as I want, because the day can expand by putting more paper in. I can even print photos out and put them in there to illustrate a specific day! I can have some doodle pages, maybe write a poem about my day, a gratitude section for each day. Ok, you say, you can do this in any journal! But if my journal doesn't work out... I can just take those pages out and reuse the filo for something else! And I can solve the problem of not having the journal with me throughout the day- I can just use paper in my daily filofax to write my daytime journal entries, and take them out and put them in my journal filofax when I get home. That's the beauty of a filofax, you can take paper out and add it as you like. And if I can't remember what I was doing that day, I was planning to write a log-book for each day anyway; well I can integrate that within my filofax :) And the beauty of the plan: I can use my (at present) unused raspberry personal Finsbury for it! :D Unfortunately, this is in Liverpool and I still have 2 weeks left until I move back, but my journal can live in my Happiness Project filo until then :)
I know the feeling of living at home and not being able to express yourself, it's the same way for me when I'm not in my dorm. A journal really helps me get everything out, so I always recommend it.
ReplyDeleteOh yes you should. You might not think it at the time when you write in your journal, but they provide hours of memories years and years later.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Jeanni and Steve. I just stumbled on a journal from university days and blogged about it (Day 23 of 30 day blog challenge).
ReplyDeletehttp://filofanatic.blogspot.com/
I regret not journaling anywhere near regularly since The Children came. Better to start now than not at all, right? Take care. x
I love Bridget Jones and just recently watched it again. I have kept a journal since my first year at college, though I'm not always good about writing in it. I don't often go back to read what I have written, but for me, it is the writing process that helps me sort out my thoughts. I use bound books (usually fancy covers or something pretty) rather than a Filofax, though I have thought about using one. Like you, I thought it would be great to use the notepaper in my Filo and transfer it to the "journal" binder. But I like that my journals are bound - there's nothing like starting a fresh notebook, as well as hunting for one. I don't carry it with me. If something comes up that I want to write about I make a note of it behind my "writing" tab in my Filo and refer to it when I have time. It might not be the best way of getting my feelings out, but it's the only way I'll remember what I want to write about when I actually get the time.
ReplyDeleteHaving gone through some emotional things, I can tell you it's really helped, and I would highly recommend it for anybody who's thinking about it.
This year I'm also using a Personal Filofax as my Journal. I use dated 1PPD-inserts (another brand, but great paper quality that can handle my beloved Fountain pen!). At the starter of this year, I used a Personal Filofax as my main planner and I inserted the current month of journal pages behind a special tab.
ReplyDeleteThen, when I downsized to my Pocket Filofax, I put the current month into my Cuban Slimline. I can trow it in my handbag and always have it with me. And when there's "a lot" I have to say, I can insert notepaper and write as much as I like.
At the end of the year I will secure the complete year with a ribon, so I can file the book with my other journals (I've been keeping a journal since I was about 9 years old ;-)).
I am still undecided if I will continue this setup next year. I would LOVE to have Moleskine paper for my Journal Filofax ... (doesn't exist though - for all I know)!
I've been keeping a one sentence journal for my own happiness project and I find that to commit to one sentence is much easier than to force myself to write diary entries from time to time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your own journal! Hoping to see more pictures of your journal filofax once it is set up! :)
I totally understand how you feel about journaling. It's therapeutic. My journaling started getting redundant and started to become basically a logbook until I discovered art journaling via flickr.com. Here is a sample: http://www.flickr.com/photos/ann-d/
ReplyDeleteGood luck in your journaling.