Journaling for people who hate journaling
There is something intimidating and off-putting about writing in a journal for me. I am a type to get obsessed with how nice the book of paper looks and whether or not I am using a good pen or crossing things out and making the page look ugly. Also, I begin to focus on what the point of it is if it’s stuff in my brain I don’t know what to do with or don’t care to do anything with — which is often the case for journaling. I am not the type to want a record of my own thoughts for its own sake.
Gretchen Rubin posted about her one-sentence journal — just a series of single sentences, not too scary. She added to that with another idea suggested by a reader: a while-people-are-boarding-the-plane journal.
There are many moments in our lives where we could jot down some ideas or thoughts, but don’t. For people like me who have a hard time with the concept of a traditional journal, a running notebook with ideas and stray sentences could work better … as long as it wasn’t some bossy thing I always had to write in. I do what I want.
For instance a “journal” filled with random thoughts from when I was:
- Waiting at the DMV, dentist/doctor office or mechanic
- Watching something on TV because I was bored
- Waiting for someone else to get out of the shower
- Doing laundry at the Laundromat
- Having trouble sleeping because of a cold or flu
- Doing anything else that doesn’t require my attention
–Marcia