Why and How to Journal

Hi there – my name is Sandra and welcome to the first installment of my blog Solve My Life! If you are here for the very first time, I hope you will stay to the end. And please hit the like button or share some comments below so I can get to know you a little bit too!

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For some reason I have always written down my thoughts and feelings in a journal since I was 10 years old. That’s when I received my first diary. It was covered in an Asian silky fabric. My first entry was after I came home from the circus. I vowed in my journal that someday I was going to join the circus and be an acrobat and fly from the silks. It’s true…I still have that journal.

I have learned to look back at my journals and glean the truth from them. They document my life. I use them for my growth process, within them I faced fear and I see the pain and hard work it took to get through to the other side.

WAIT!

Why do I bring this up? Of course, you know the answer! I need you to start a journal (if you don’t already have one.) You NEED you to start a journal. It can be written, typed into a computer and not in your head. Most of my blogs will have questions to ask yourself, exercises, and they need to be written down somewhere for further exploration.

It’s also important that you journal through the good and tough times. And, especially through the high times, and I don’t mean drugs! But that high feeling you get when you experience great joy, pride and accomplishment. That way when you need to know what it is that brings you that kind of joy, you can seek it out again. And it will remind you that good times happen!

STOP! Think of one time when you felt that high, everything was terrific, no matter how big or small. Write down at least enough words to remind yourself of what it was, and how you felt. If you can, write down what events/circumstances led you to that moment.

I have every journal I have ever written. I sometimes go back and read them, but I do read that first more often than any other. It’s fascinating to me to look back at my 10 year old mind, then early teenage years.

I have looked back at my twenties and thirties. I wonder if someone ever read them after I died what would they think. It’s the one place I can write, say and dream about ANYTHING without judgment or editing. It’s my refuge into my deepest thoughts, great joy and great sadness. It’s my prayer and my fantasyland.

HOW?

I am supposed to have gained wisdom at this point in my life. I guess that would be a matter of opinion, but I know I have. I know this because my journals confirm that wisdom.

I can go back a few months, years and now decades to see where I have come from, where I am stuck, and how much I have changed in some respects and still lost in other aspects of my life.

The insights are endless.

It will give you relief when you read and realize how far you have come, especially through a difficult period of time in your life. Journaling will help you when you are faced with a new challenge. You will see how, in the past, and what, you have overcome. You will also see how much you have grown from a particularly difficult experience.

Even if you have not journaled, ever, until today. We will do enough exploration together to create a foundation for learning to trust yourself, your decisions and look forward to a crazy and joyful road ahead.

The insight I appreciate most is love and loss. I wrote this blog a while ago and I am sitting here editing so I can publish it in a couple of weeks. And, this past week I lost one of my dearest friends, only a few years older than me, to an awful battle of cancer.

Grief is one of the most difficult pains in life. Whether it’s a loved family member or friend, or a spouse or lover. Loving and losing someone is deep and awful. I have written and re-read some deep pain in my journals for it seems that I write the most when I am in the most pain. Especially when I was very young up until my late thirties. I learned that I keep most of the deepest pain to myself.

STOP! If you do have a journal in your past and you still have it, make a point to find it and start to go through and re-read it. Write down your thoughts in your NEW journal!

I found therapy in my late twenties, and it literally saved my life. Then I had another place besides the pages of my journal to share my fears, pain and found hope and courage in return. I will talk about therapy in a future blog.

In recent years I have been digging my way back up out of a deep hole. More like the past 4 or 5 years. In that time, I lost a couple of good friends who felt I had betrayed them, I had a job that I loved but didn’t pay enough, and a job that paid well, and within 5 days I knew I hated everything about it. The most difficult thing I had to do was to stay positive.

I know this because I can read it in my journals.

I am not sure how convincing this is to inspire you to start journaling. It has inspired and reminded me how much journaling has given back to me in my life’s journey. Just give it a try. I am not asking you to write novels, just thoughts, reminders, and ideas.

I encourage you to give it a try. Don’t overthink it. I cannot tell you how many letters I knew I would never send were written in my journals. They allowed me to say exactly what I wanted to someone I could not say to their face for reasons that don’t matter. What matters is that I let it go on paper. It relieved me of some pain, and reminded me of some faith and joy.

Journaling is recording my personal history. Maybe someday it will help someone else too.

Thanks for spending time with me today. Thank you for allowing me to share with you and I hope you have a little more insight as to who I am and what brings me here.

Take a moment and let me know who you are and why you came here to my blog today in the comments below. Follow me here: sandra@solvemylife.com and get notified when a new blog posts.

Please feel free to be open and please don’t judge anyone who leaves a comment. Be that strong person who supports and inspires our circle of friends that meet here. Be that person in your comment below for other people reading the comments. Inspire us with your comments!

Thanks to YOU, for reading, listening, and believing in yourself to read this all the way through and doing something for yourself.

Finally, and this will not be the last time that I say this, but I promise you, that in each and every blog I post, you can find answers you are looking for. Only you can find them.

Until next time, with hugs and a smile!

Sandra

ALWAYS LOVE YOUR CURVES!

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