Rules for Journaling

When starting something new, there is always this pressure to get it right. So here are a few starting rules for getting your journal habit started and set up.

BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.

No one is going to read your journal. If you are worried about it, find a safe place to keep it. However, you need to make sure to be honest with yourself so you can get to the root of whatever you are dealing with. Being dishonest will only hurt you.

PUT WORDS ON THE PAGE.

Or pictures. It’s your journal. Pen to page how you want to. It doesn’t matter how much or how little. One word. One sketch. 3 pages. Pen to paper. Just do it.

DO IT REGULARLY.

Daily, weekly, monthly. If you skip a week, pick it back up where you left off. No one is counting how many days you missed. Simply pick it back up and start again.

CALL A DUD A DUD.

Sometimes you pick out a journal, and things are going great for a little while, and then you fall off the bandwagon. Sometimes you can pick that same journal back up where you left off. Sometimes you need to call a dud a dud and just start a new journal. No one is counting how many journals you don’t finish. I probably have more unfinished journals than finished ones. There is no shame in that. Call a dud a dud and move on with your life.

THERE ARE NO RULES.

This is your journal. Break all the rules. Keep all the rules. Write your own rules. Break those. Just journal.