How to Get Back Into Journaling (Instead of Just Telling Yourself You Will)
Journal burnout: it happens. Also known as #JournBurn (no, it isn’t), it’s the state of fatigue or indifference that can set in when you’re going through periods of stress, are too busy to make sitting down with your notebook a priority, or it’s simply lost its appeal.
This often leads to #JournYearn (also not real), where you want to get back into journaling but you just can’t seem to get started or if you do, it seems not to stick in quite the same way it did when it was new and exciting.
Luckily, I have 5 suggestions to take and apply to your individual situation to help get back on track…and see if you definitely even want to. (Because it’s okay if you don’t!)
Note: I’m using “journaling” as a catchall term that encompasses planning, diary-style writing, or anything you like to do.
Ask Yourself Why You Stopped
Seeing if you can pinpoint what about journaling started to feel tedious or time-consuming can help you reverse-engineer a solution (a technique I’m fond of) and get back in the game.
Did you feel too much pressure to make it beautiful? Did updating multiple trackers feel like a lot of work? Was comparison to other journalers the thief of your joy?
Once you’ve targeted the source of your slump, you can work backward from there. To use one of the above examples, if you realize you were feeling too much pressure to make your journal pleasing to the eye and it was sucking the fun out of it, you could make a deal with yourself: that for now, you’re only allowed to add small touches here and there that still make your journal feel special, but not stressful.
Remember What You Liked About It in the First Place
There was probably a time that you learned about journaling and got really pumped and excited to start. What was it, specifically, that got you fired up and drove you to hit the store (or the keyboard) and buy that first notebook?
Try returning to those aspects of journaling and ditching the rest entirely. You’re looking to fall back in love, here, so make all the conditions perfect in a way you never could with something that isn’t an inanimate object. Luckily, a journal is!
Take advantage of that and make it the perfect partner for you, the place where you do exactly the thing you like to do or the thing that’s useful in exactly the way you need, and throw out all the rest. If you loved the idea of having a to-do list but you’ve felt overwhelmed by trackers, break up with trackers. Trust me, they’ll be cool about it, and you’ll be relieved.
Go Back to Basics
Sometimes we adopt a new practice and it’s all cool and helpful, and we want it to be even more cool and helpful so we make it more complicated in a bid to maximize those attributes — the more effort we put in, the more we’ll get out of it, right?
Not always. Sometimes, it just makes whatever we’re doing a chore that we want to put off, which is totally counterintuitive, despite our best intentions.
If this sounds familiar to you, you might benefit from bringing your journaling back down to its most basic elements. If you had been documenting your life or feelings, you might try writing a single line a day rather than forcing yourself through multiple pages. If you’re a Bullet Journaler, I can’t recommend the original Bullet Journal instructional video enough — it’s probably my most shared link when it comes to journaling.
Give Yourself Small Wins
One of the best ways to get momentum going is to do a little something, feel the satisfaction from that, and want more of it — a process I fully endorse when it comes to journaling and beyond.
What could that look like when you’re trying to get back into journaling? It might be doing just a weekly check-in instead of a daily one. It could be grabbing a roll of washi tape to quickly pretty up a page rather than busting out 10 markers.
Try doing things that make you feel good, but under-do them to leave yourself wanting more (from the journal-as-partner metaphor) and not burn yourself out (our counterintuitive tendency). Rather, give yourself a sense of accomplishment for getting back to a practice that you know makes you feel good.
Accept the Break, Guilt-Free
You know what? It’s possible that this is a period in your life where journaling just doesn’t have usefulness to you, and that’s completely okay. It’s great, actually. There can be a big relief that comes with recognizing what’s not working and letting it go, especially with something as low-stakes as journaling. You’ll be fine! As they say, change is the only constant in life and maybe rather than fighting it and wanting things to be the way they were — for you to feel about journaling the way you did — you can accept the change and go with the flow.
It doesn’t have to be permanent! That desire may very well flow back to you. And you’re more likely to enjoy it if it does if you don’t come to view journaling as a drag because you tried to strong arm yourself to being into it when you weren’t. You can naturally turn back to it like an old friend you haven’t seen in a while that you’re happy to spend time with again. (That’s what we call a #JournTurn.)
So if and however you come back to journaling, remember: whether it’s an outlet, a way to be organized, or something beyond, it doesn’t matter — it should feel easy. This isn’t your job! This is something you’re doing for your own benefit. And you have the power to make that mean whatever you want.
Originally published on BohoBerry.com (no longer active).
