Start a Journal

Page Updated on July 28, 2007

You can use any journal you like, a nice hardbound journal you found at the bookstore, a homemade journal that you made with your bookbinding skills, a journal on your computer or online (but I don't recommend it because it's not always available when you need it), a fifty cent notebook you found at the drug store, or even a bunch of papers in a 3-ring binder. Use whatever you have available.

You must write in your journal EVERY DAY for at least 20 minutes. No excuses.

Journaling is therapeutic in so many ways. If you ever see a psychologist or read a self-help book, you'll probably be instructed to keep a journal. Journaling has been shown to boost the immune system, reduce stress, and improve overall happiness.

Who Journals When we think about keeping a journal or diary, the image of teenage girls writing out the prom often comes to mind, but almost all of the great minds of the world keep journals: Leonardo da Vinci, Albert Einstein, Mother Theresa, royalty of every kind, every writer who ever wrote, presidents, Charles Darwin, most modern explorers, and the list goes on. Historians (especially family historians) will thank you for keeping a journal, even if you think that your life is mundane or insignificant.

The Rules of Journaling

Date Each Entry It's fun (and therapeutic) to go through your old entries and see what you were thinking or doing on previous days of your life. Put a date at the beginning of each entry. If you want to get even more specific, you can also put a time. If you want to avoid having to do calculations to figure out how old you are, put your age at the beginning of the journal. If you want to be extra helpful to anyone researching your family history, also put your birth date under your age.
Confidentiality At least while you are writing your journal, it is wise to keep the contents confidential. This will make it easier for you to allow yourself to freely express yourself. You can always decide to share the journal when you are finished with it (and working on your next journal of course).
Don't Let Journals Die with You Make sure you share your life story with the world. Your life is important, and so is the story of your life. I suggest putting them in your will as a specific bequest to make sure that they go into caring hands and don't end up getting tossed out.
No More Rules You can write whatever you want, however you want, wherever you want, whenever you want, etc. You can be neat, messy, artistic, enigmatic, etc. (Leonardo da Vinci wrote his entries as mirror images, so you actually had to hold it up to a mirror to read it.)

What should you write?