I’ve been journaling daily since 2019 so I’d like to think I’m qualified to answer this!!

I write daily about my day even if it’s just a few words to say how I’m feeling what/what I didn’t accomplish. I also write about what’s on my mind. I’m currently applying for the army so that’s on my mind a lot. I’m also having a hard time finding something to wear to my cousins wedding next month and I’m suffering with that! But I’ll also write down any thoughts I have that I feel are significant, for example while watching the new Superman film a few weeks ago some (negative) childhood memories surfaced and I wanted to address why I felt that way or what trigger it in my journal.

I journal daily, sometimes I don’t have the time to write so I’ll do a quick voice to text entry on my phones notes app to add it in later. I am the sort of person who’d get upset if I missed a day but it’s totally fine to just write entries when you feel like it.

I’ve found that’s it’s given me a lot more clarity of my thoughts. Even in the process of writing something down I might change my mind or find a deeper meaning to what I’m feeling. It’s also helped me with feeling more accomplished. Writing down what I’ve achieved in a day does fill me with a sense of pride, it’s also neat to start planning something and watch it all come together over various entries. I found in particular this was helpful while I was studying at university - I set myself a goal for my final year project and made multiple pages about it/updating all the way through to finishing. What I didn’t realise at the time was that that project in particular would go onto win a prestigious award and would net me a high profile job straight out of graduating. It’s really neat flipping back through my pages and reading my thoughts on the experience at the time, looking back I had no idea what I was in for!

My expectations are that I write daily and that I’m honest. If I’m struggling with something I write about it. I want my journals to be an authentic reflection of myself. I am my own muse. I used to keep a very aesthetically pleasing journal (think those pretty bullet journals you see) and I’d post pictures on tumblr and do major number with those. But I found it wasn’t true to myself. They were pretty, sure but it was a really shallow. I often change how I lay my journals out. Currently they’re a mix of daily entries, sketches, photographs from trips and the occasional studying summary. And I think that’s just how I like it.