Low pressure journaling ideas for tired humans

Journaling has always been a hobby I wanted to get into since I was a small child. I had tons of collections of notebooks and even electronic diaries from the 90s – (aging myself but does anyone remember these?)

Despite owning a stationary store size collection of notebooks, I never got into journaling because I felt like I was always doing it “wrong”. I was obsessed with stories where the characters would spill their heart to their “dear diary(s)” and wanted to be able to write the way they did. Looking back, I guess little Kristina was comparing to diary entries written by tweens written by published authors!

When I say I feel like I’m doing journaling wrong, I mean whenever I would try to write i would focus so much on the words being memories I would want to look back on and reminisce. I would plan out when I would journal, and then since it was planned it would always be so contrived. I basically would judge myself for my poor skills on something that is supposed to be just for me and therapeutic. How silly!

In the last year and a half I have become more connected with journaling. A year and a half ago I went through big heartbreak and it was actually a tik tok video that made me try journaling again. I learned about junk journaling, where people literally collect junk from their day (think food wrappers, stickers, pieces of paper shopping bags etc) and would create journal pages with it all in order to reflect on their days. One of my favourite girls would write little notes and paragraphs within her junk spread and would talk about how sometimes her journal looks cute and others it’s like a brain dump. She would use stickers and doodles and her journal was just a mishmash of her.

Here are a couple ideas I’ve used to help me get into journalling! and remember whatever you journal is perfect because it’s for YOU

Brain dump pages – these are NOT CUTE. These are pages where I just write and write without stopping and thinking. It’s when I’m feeling emotional or overwhelmed or have to get my thoughts out SOMEWHERE so they stop floating aimlessly in my brain. Often the sentences are run on and the handwriting is horrendous , and I know I probably won’t go back to these. Sometimes to take away the pressure of writing specific things down for specific days I don’t add a date to the page to make it even less stress

Junk journal/art pages – these pages are less written on more using creativity and craft material to capture feelings, ideas and memories ! I have a mini photo printer I love to use but even just scrap paper, stickers and doodles can make this a fun way to express yourself without pressure to write

Glimmers pages – this has been my consistent journal go to . I always have one on the go where I write “glimmers” in the middle of two pages and then if I don’t have much to write but I had a good memory from the day I write one small sentence about it. The pages could contain many sentences over a few days or many days of memories. There’s no rules just recording things that made me smile. If you’re not sure where to start, a few examples of my glimmers are – getting a hug from my client, watching a bird run on the beach, having coffee with a friend. It doesn’t have to be big!

A couple times I’ve caught myself overthinking my journal but what is the point of that? Sometimes writing in short spurts, setting aside time or setting a timer can be a great way to overcome some journal hesitancy

Remember journaling is for YOU ! Process whatever you need during this little time for yourself 🙂

This month I’m trying to write in my journal more , if you’re interested in joining, I hope you have a wonderful time exploring your written thoughts !

Journal prompt for this week – write down one thing you’re grateful for at least 3 times this week! There are no “right answers” so just write it down and pay yourself on the back 🙂