If you’ve ever stumbled upon a journal from an elderly loved one as you’ve been helping them pack up their home before moving into an assisted living facility or when you’ve been assisting them around their home, it can be exciting to see what their younger life was like years ago. And you only have this information because they kept a journal. So if you’re not currently keeping a journal, or you’re not very good at journal writing for whatever reason, there are things you can do to get better at this. To help you see how this can be done, here are three tips for more effective journal writing.
Consider Your Goal In Journaling
If you don’t have a goal with your journal writing, it can be hard for you to focus your efforts and know if you’re achieving whatever goal you had thought of when you first started writing. Because of this, you should think about your goal for journaling before you get started.
For some people, they might want to keep a journal to remember things that happened in their life and how they felt about them. For others, a journal might be all for the sake of posterity. Some might want to keep a journal about something specific, like their advancement in their career or things that they’re grateful for that they notice each day. When you have something like this to focus on, you may find your journaling to be a lot more effective.
Make Use Of Journaling Prompts
Oftentimes, people have a hard time with journaling because they don’t know where to start and what to write about, especially if it’s been a long time since they’ve last journaled.
To help you get over this hump, you may want to make use of some journaling prompts. You can find all kinds of journaling prompts online or even purchase a journal that includes new prompts on each page like the One Minute Gratitude Journal to help you get started with an idea of what to write about. This can take some of the stress off of getting started each time you open your journal.
Include More Than Written Words
When most people think about a journal, they only think about someone writing something down on a page. But to make journaling more fun for you and potentially more interesting to anyone that reads your journal entries down the line, you should seek to include more than just written words.
If you still want to have a physical copy of your journal, you could include things like photos and keepsakes from times you had. Or, if you’re fine with a digital journal, you can add things like video or audio files that will further help to illustrate your stories and share more of who you are.
If you want to be more effective at your journal writing, consider using the tips mentioned above.
Leave a Reply