October 3, 2020

Journaling

I recently started my 4th journal, so I thought I should talk about my experiences with journaling.

I started back in February 2019, and have since filled up three journals with all sorts of events in my life, both big and small. When I first started journaling, I decided to do full-color, colored pencil drawings that took up one or two pages. That quickly got old. The drawings took so much time that journaling began to feel like a chore and I often would skip events I wanted to commemorate just because it would be too much work.

I abandoned journaling all together for a few months until I became re-inspired by the book HOW TO MAKE A JOURNAL OF YOUR LIFE by D. PRICE. I highly recommend this book if you are in any way interested in journaling: it's funny, includes lots beautiful pen drawings, and is refreshingly concise (it feels like every how-to/self-help book I read spends 300 pages saying the same 3 ideas 100 different ways).

Anyway, I switched to single color pen drawings and that streamlined the journaling process. If you've read HOW TO MAKE A JOURNAL OF YOUR LIFE, you'll see that I took a lot of inspiration from the book. The materials I like to use are the Moleskine Art Collection Large Sketchbook and the Kaweco Sport Fountain Pen. The Kaweco is my favorite pen I've tried so far because it doesn't bleed on the Moleskine paper, it's compact, and the ink capsules come in a variety of colors. The only con would be that I've experienced some smudging with the ink, but it's a manageable amount.

So without further ado, enjoy some of my favorite pages from my journaling experience so far.

I seem to have a horrible memory, so it's nice to have written records of my life from my own perspective. Journaling also helps me practice writing and drawing, and encourages me to take more photos. I've also found that I'm more aware and appreciative of the smaller moments in life. I literally cannot think of a single downside to journaling, so I whole-heartedly recommend that you take pen and paper in hand and try it out yourself. I know that starting a journal but ultimately abandoning it is a common trope, and believe me I've experienced that myself (it took me three separate attempts at journaling before I found a method that worked for me). Journals are a good way to reflect on and appreciate the present, as well as immortalizing your life experiences at the same time. So if you're interested, go for it and get started! Just remember that they are ultimately for you and you only, so have fun with it.