Getting back into journaling especially if you pause for months or even years also demands effort and sometimes, it depends on what is your reason for pausing. Maybe your reason why you stopped journaling is one of the following:
- You stopped journal writing because some unexpected event occurred into your life.
- You became busy at school or at work.
- You think journaling is daunting and overwhelming.
- You think that journaling is not helpful to you.
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When I started journaling, I was on-and-off. I determined that one of the reasons why I can’t continue and stick to my journaling habit is that I think journaling is not helpful to me.
Well, that’s what I thought before.
But since I determined the reason why I can’t sustain it as my habit, I targeted that and pushed myself a bit more.
No matter what your reason is, the most important is you want to start journaling again. So here are my practical tips that will help you get back into journaling and not pause again…
How to Get Back into Journaling
1. Determine the purpose of journal writing for you.
Journaling is really as easy as writing words into paper and that’s it. But creating a habit that will stick, needs a purpose.
We don’t do things just because it’s easy. Sometimes, no matter how easy the thing that we need to do, we’ll still end up not doing it.
Why? Because what’s pushing us to do a work is a purpose.
So regardless of your reason for stopping from journaling and even if you already know how you can start, set your purpose of doing this.
That purpose will be your fuel to make your journaling habit that stick.
Before writing anything in a paper or typing in your journaling app, ask yourself: why do I want to do this? For what purpose?
If you can’t think of any reason because you just want to start it again, I really encourage you to think about it.
I have a blog post where I talked about starting a journal and I also tackled there the benefits of journaling. You can read it here.
But to give you more idea, here’s a video I found on YouTube:
From all the benefits of journaling mentioned in the video, try to think of what is your own purpose of journaling. Is it to achieve your goals? Boost your memory or comprehension? Or all of it?
2. Write what’s happening at the moment.
You don’t have to write what happened in the past that made you pause from journaling if you don’t feel like it, just focus on where you are now.
You might feel overwhelmed because you think you need to summarize what happened from the past months or years but actually, you don’t really have to.
Focus on the moment where you are. What did you do today? What made you feel happy today? And so on.
3. Set a schedule for it.
Stop always thinking that you should start journaling again and actually do it by scheduling it. Create a schedule for your journaling session as if it was a meeting with a person you haven’t seen for a long time.
4. Determine the type of journal that suits your needs.
Maybe you stopped journaling because you feel like it doesn’t work for you.
Instead of going back with the same type of journaling that you did before, try exploring the other types of journaling.
There are tons of formats of journal writing.
If you tried Morning Pages before but it does not work for you, try to do different, like Bullet Journaling or starting again with a Guided Journal to help you get back.
This time, you want to make sure that your journaling will help you and it will make you stick to it.
5. Start at the beginning.
Journaling as a beginner is the same as getting back into journaling after a long pause. The only exception is you now have an idea of how to do it and what it would be like.
Nevertheless, start at the beginning. Try learning more about journal writing and exploring it.
Be gentle with yourself. Don’t feel frustrated if you can’t write a paragraph. Remember that you’re just getting back into journaling again after a long time. Write at least a sentence a day that will explain your thoughts or writing a gratitude list will do.
What do you think about these tips?
Getting back into journaling also needed effort just like how you begin your journaling before.
But it can be less daunting and as easy as “just write.” Don’t feel frustrated if your journaling doesn’t feel like how it was before immediately, it’s totally normal.
Remember that recreating your journaling habit is a process.
What do you think about these tips? I’d love to know what tips you will do to help you begin again with your journal writing journey, share in the comment section!
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Jocelyn is a coffee lover who believes that a bad day with coffee is better than a good day without it. You can find her obsessing over stationery, hanging out with her cat, or singing her favorite Taylor Swift songs.