On journaling

Hey, this is me taking a moment to process journaling. I definitely did it in high school, in middle school, and when I was six. That's pretty much my whole writing life. Once I learned how to write sentences, I wrote in a little journal. Side bar: my first journal was a blue faux-velvet covered notebook with Cinderella on the cover. This was purchased in Germany. Cinderella is still the greatest Disney character that has ever lived. Six year old Abby filled her journals with made up song lyrics, copied text from Princess' books, and maybe a story or two about my little sister. Everything else that I wrote in my journals between elementary school and teenage years were pretty typical. I filled one or two journals per year and wrote about life.

In high school I got a little better at journaling with intention. I would write out prayers, I would write goals, I would process things there. I'm sure nothing I wrote back then would really impress me too much now, but I do remember spending consistent time on journaling. and I think that's a good thing. I still journal, but not too much has changed since high school. I actually journal less now then I did. This doesn't mean I have fewer things to process or think about, it just means I either A) ignore them or B) talk with other people about them. Talking is good. Sometimes it's hard for much to come out of me when talking to others, but it's still worth it! 

A while ago I talked about a 5 year journal that I write in. Guess what? I still write in it and it's really fun going through this book because I'm currently on year 3 of using it and each day I can see what I was doing in 2013 and 2012. It's even better than Timehop (which I just downloaded on Friday btw). 

Here's an example:

December 1st, 2012:

SAT today. A babysitting job was cancelled and then a new one came up. Got lost on the way there. I took the SAT at Blake school. I hope, hope I did well. (Boy's name) needs to stop liking me. 

Oh my gosh, I was such a high schooler. 

December 1st, 2013:

I've been tired all day. Nari made breakfast. Jo made dinner. I visited Redeemer East Side. I made a lovely divider. Count down to MN.

ehh, that day was little lame. I write these right before bed, so they're pretty raw and simple. 

Here's another example just for the fun of it:

November 23rd, 2013:

Went to the American Museum of Natural History with Louise. Had a $17 pastrami sandwich in the UES. Had Grace over to cook dinner. fun. I'm so tired when I go to bed. shm.

I guess I found that stuff important to share. Sometimes I do write random details about my day. Sometimes I'll write out my feelings or things I'm working through. It all depends. There are no rules for this book. I share whatever I want, because it's mine and really for my eyes only, except in this case when I put parts of it on the internet. 

I'm glad I find joy in jotting memories down. Do you?

Oh, and I do have an actual journal where I write more than 5 choppy sentences. I write in that when I need to or when something significant came up.