Hello dear memory keeper,
As you may have noticed previously, when reading through my posts, I keep a journal. I have always had some kind of notebook I wrote or drew in. When I was very little I used to write my own short stories and illustrate them. That was when I hadn’t even learned how to write yet. Of course back then I didn’t feel I had to write anything down, or try to keep a memory alive, because for me life seemed endless. The summers were endlessly beautiful and I just lived in the moment without thinking about tomorrow. I miss that feeling of being free of everything.
We traveled a lot when I was younger and so I would always keep a journal, when we were on a trip. I would note down everything I thought was important at the time. Of course I kept all the receipts and tickets and decorated it all. But usually I would stop writing, when we got home.
In seventh grade I started keeping a daily journal. That was when my life became a bit tough. School offered a lot of issues I could write about. Back then I was more into drawing, than writing, but that’s fine. There is no right or wrong way to journal. As long as it helps you, it’s good. Somehow I got tired of doing it and stopped again. That was in 2012.
In that year I went to summer school in England, which was quite the experience. At that time I was going through a difficult phase in my life and when we went to Bristol I bought myself a journal again and started writing. I was trying to transition from a child to a teenager, so there was a lot to think and write about. I kept on writing till X-mas. Meanwhile I had started writing a story, which I worked on till not very long ago, so my entries weren’t diary entries anymore, but notes, ideas and parts of that story. I changed to a notebook for only these notes. Instead of working through the things that were nagging me in my day to day life, I fled into my new story in which I could control the characters and imagine them doing all the things I would like to have done, if I had had friends at the time…
So as you might have noticed, I have never not had a journal near by. In April precisely five years ago, I finally got into journaling again and haven’t stopped writing since. 60 months and 50+ journals later and I am here. I don’t know who I would be today, if I hadn’t had a notebook by my side, an outlet for my jumbled up feelings and a place for self-exploration.
I did start an art journal and I have my own personal version of a Hobonichi, that I am still writing and drawing in everyday. I tried out a lot of things and I am so glad I did! So please try it out and see how it goes. If you need more inspiration, follow my blog, where I will be posting a whole lot more articles about journaling and everything related to making and keeping memories. Of course Youtube is full of journal flips and journal related videos, too, but please don’t feel pressured by the beautiful journals. It’s not a contest! Imperfection is beauty! As long as it makes you happy!
Love Lynn
P.S. : You can find my journaling videos on Youtube by looking for lovelynnslife!