Often when people hear ‘journaling’ it sounds like a revamped, more mature way of saying ‘Dear Diary’. Like a little book you keep in your pocket or backpack secure with a lock and key. Inside, its contents are filled with top secret information, doodles, and the happenings of the day, which often lack any substance and instead are unproductive uses of ink. I don’t agree with this; I think that any way in which you choose to use your own little book is the right way. But for some, this might not be seemingly enough. Not productive enough. Not useful enough. Not interesting enough. But journaling doesn’t exist in the vacuum seal of ‘Dear Diary’. Instead, there are a plethora of uses for one’s journal. Enjoying journaling and sticking with the habit is less about doing it ‘right’ and more about trial and error. In the article that follows, I’ll explain different journalistic styles for you to explore. These aren’t blueprints or tutorials. Think of them more as suggestions able to be molded to fit whatever it is you feel like filling your own little book with. 

Junk Journaling

This one is for the eco-conscientious. Junk journaling is the practice of filling your journal pages with whatever scraps you desire. It can be thought of like a collage of sorts, cutting, arranging, and pasting any type of physical material onto paper. A lot of junk journaling involves recycling already used materials, like a produce sticker or boarding pass for example. It’s a great way to hold memories without having to recall each and every detail in writing. If you search ‘junk journaling’ on any major social media platform, you’re sure to find photo and video examples of elaborate collages all created within the confines of a bounded book. Sometimes they are accompanied by writing, sometimes they aren’t. Typically there’s an overarching theme, maybe a color palette or a place or a mood, but not always. Sometimes it’s literal trash saved from plastic wrappers or takeout napkins arranged in a way that is creative, innovative, therapeutic. All you need is a journal of your own and the imagination to turn scraps into something whole.  

Gratitude Journaling

Gratitude journaling is a more introspective, self-reflective approach to keeping a journal, but it’s also extremely versatile. This style more closely aligns with the stereotypical ‘Dear Diary’ format, but its purpose goes beyond surface level retellings and brings to light things we’ve allowed ourselves to gloss over. Essentially it creates space for greater, intrinsic appreciation. 

There are several exercises that provoke gratitude. A simple practice is listing three good things. This is similar to the rose, bud, thorn exercise many of us did as children, maybe begrudgingly, but eliminates reflection of negative aspects of the day. What are three good things, no matter how big or small, that happened today? Did you talk with a friend on the phone? Were you able to wake up to your early alarm and get a workout in? Whether it’s extrinsically or intrinsically positive, it can be something to appreciate. 

Brain Dumping

Finally, brain dumping is the metaphorical equivalent of taking every thought, feeling, and chore bouncing off the walls of your brain and slamming them into the solid pages of your journal. This one’s great if you’re a list person. Essentially, it’s a form of word vomit, you just list everything you’re thinking, feeling, and ruminating on into a neat, or not so neat, bullet pointed list. Items can range from tedious chores to reminders to things you want to make time for to the way this all makes you feel. I recently unloaded a major brain dump into my own journal after letting all the things I had to do ricochet from my brain to my lungs to the twitch in my eye. I sat down, opened my journal up to a fresh, blank page, and noted down anything that came to mind in quick succession. “Call so-and-so. Check email inbox. Schedule that appointment.” Anything and everything that had been tangled into an indecipherable ball of nerves in my head, I wrote down on the page, until each thought became independent of the others. It’s a great tool to employ at the beginning of the week when the days ahead feel expansive and intimidating. Just do yourself a favor, sit down for a couple of minutes, and write it all out.

While these examples provide structure moving forward, they are not instructions. I want to reiterate that there is no right or wrong way to journal. This can be intimidating at times. It gives a lot of wiggle room, but there is nothing you can do with that room that would be considered a failure. Possibly the best tip for keeping a journal is being consistent. Give yourself a few minutes everyday with your paper and pen and just see what happens. Maybe one day you’ll jot down a to-do list. Another you’ll fill the page with doodles and line work. Maybe you’ll feel compelled to write for pages, to process something you haven’t processed before, to tell your little book all that’s happened that day. Carve out intentional time for you and your journal and your subconscious will do the rest. 

Will you try one of these journaling styles? Tell us how it went in the comments!