BellaOnline Forums Beauty and Self Journals Starting a New Journal for 2010

Are you guys all going to start a fresh journal for 2010? Or do you just keep writing in the same journal and have it span the year break?

I am in the middle of my journal so I'm going to just keep going and end whenever it ends.

I have never been able to commit to regular journal writing. Have started many times but can never keep going. I usually throw away what I have written, but I have kept several starts, and I always find it fascinating to read them after several yars. Still, I don't know why I can't commit.

Any suggestions for overcoming my inability to commit to journal-keeping?

I am planning to section off my monthly writing and see if that keeps me going or not. It is hard to write lately, but I'm trying.

I have the same problem. I start out with a bang (whenever I decide to begin journaling) and then the enthusiasm just fizzles out.

I have bought a Gratitude journal, and I think I will try to focus on it's pages rather than blank ones. I figure if I miss a day here or there, I can always continue it into 2011 by filling in the gaps.

I have read about using index cards because they are not as open as a notebook paper, but I wouldn't file the index cards and they'd just end up as scrap paper.

Two years in my life I have created a lengthy list of goals and specifics of how to achieve those goals, but I was hyper-focused. Last year, I made 4 small goals and didn't accomplish one of them! I'm such a loser!

I kept a gratitude journal for an entire year once and got zero out of it. I really wanted it to change me. I have no idea why it didn't work for me - i gave it a valiant try. Maybe I am missing the gratitude gene.

Just a few thoughts...

Perhaps you haven't yet found your ideal way to go about journal-writing. For instance, do you like to use a notebook, or a bound volume? Lined or unlined pages? What sort of writing implement do you like to use?

Or would you like a different medium entirely, such as a computer journal, either with a word processor or with a journal-writing program?

My advice (based on 45 years of journaling as of January 1st, 2010) is to play around. Mess with it. Try different ways. Look for a way to make it your own! The only rules are those you make.

Most important, in my not so humble opinion...

Are you having fun?

I think most people who try journaling and then quit do so because it just ain't fun. Somehow, it has become tedious... a chore to avoid, not a thing to do because it's fun and feels good. Generally speaking, if it's fun you want to do it!

What can you do to make it FUN?[i][/i]

I like the "idea" of journaling... and have occasionally started to do it, but I get BORED. I don't know what to write, and end up writing the same thing all the time. I wonder if maybe it would help if I knew the PURPOSE of my journal. Those of you who journal regularly, could you share what the purpose is for you? Or, what it is that you do that keeps interesting and worthwhile for you? I have a nice neat new book with sections of lined paper divided by little dividers that have pockets for putting articles and things in... I'd like to start using it, but don't know what I'll use it for...

I think part of the key for me is that it is waiting for me on the bed with a piled of colored pens right next to it. I don't have to go look for it. I don't have to make time for it. It is part of a quiet ritual. I head up to bed, I am snuggling down and everything is there waiting for me. It's not a chore, it's a way to unwind.

Maybe if you make a little personal ritual about making a cup of herbal tea, heading to bed with a nice soft light right there and everything waiting, and you are now able to summarize your hopes and dreams there?

My hopes and dreams end up as a long list of chores and 'todo's".

That's not me speaking negatively - it's me telling you where my thought process ends up going when I sit down to journal about my day or whatnot.