Ugly Journaling and Why it’s Important

Writing can be intimidating - especially when you’re looking at a totally blank page with nothing to guide you. Sometimes, there’s nothing more daunting than sitting down with an empty journal and feeling like a failure when some life-awakening idea doesn’t pour out of your fingers and onto the notebook. 

But it doesn’t have to happen like that.

I’m gonna give it to you straight. I want you to let go of any preconceived notions around journaling that you’ve ever seen or have had. Throw away the romantic vision of flinging open a notebook and eloquently spilling your guts like you’re talking to a best friend you haven’t seen in ages. 

“Dear Diary - Wow, do I have a lot to tell you!” 

Let’s cut the crap.

It usually doesn’t happen like that. Our lives are not Hollywood movies and we’re not overly dramatic teen characters torn between one scripted situation or another. Reality is just simply not that black and white. And we shouldn’t expect our journaling to be either. 

In journaling, much like most other things in life, it doesn’t have to be all or nothing. If you’re “journaling curious,” it doesn’t mean you need to commit to becoming the next Jane Austen. Hell, you don’t even need to use full or proper sentences when you journal. 

You’re not journaling for a grade. You’re not writing to get the approval of a teacher or an editor. You’re doing it to get shit that’s swirling inside your head and body out. It really is that simple. 

And maybe that shit is words and sentences and eloquent phrases. But maybe it’s just a bunch of heavy-handed scribbles. Or doodles that help sort your mind. Be messy with it. Who cares? 

I say this knowing full well who cares. You care. I care too. Or at least, I used to. I used to spend hours - days even, searching for the perfect journal. The most beautiful one. And then I’d never write in it, because I didn’t want my words to be wrong. Or my letters to be uneven. I wanted my journal entries to be as beautiful as my journal. Sound familiar? 

I’ve since seen the error of my ways. I’ve gone so far as to create a mantra: “My journal will never be a published thing.” I even encourage my clients to seek out plain notebooks rather than beautiful journals, because then we feel less attachment to keeping them tidy. Sometimes, I’ll ask them to rip pages out. To crumple things up. Or even burn them! It can be therapeutic, and is a hell of lot easier when you’re not attached to your $40 leather-bound journal. 

Now, I’d be lying if I said I still don’t look for journals that make me happy, but I’ve learned to not be so focused on what the pages inside look like.

Because that’s not the point of journaling. The point of journaling - whether you have a regular daily habit, or only spew down thoughts once or twice a year, is to release something inside of you. (I hope you don’t judge yourself if you’re the latter - journaling isn’t an Olympic sport. You don’t need to “train” every day to benefit from it!) It’s for YOU and nobody else. So go buy a cheap spiral notebook and get messy with it, however you need to! 

This week, let that be your goal. Especially if journaling isn’t a regular habit for you. Try it out in this way. Each of the Journal Jolts prompts will be all around that: getting messy with your journal. Allowing the pages to not be perfect. Really truly using your journal as a form of release.

Happy journaling!