Perspective: Journaling advice for the easily overwhelmed
In 2020 when the world shut down, I found my yearslong habit of journaling was stifled by day after day of depressing news and nothing to write, until I got a custodial job that changed the way I journal.
Every morning at 5 a.m. I cleaned the offices in the Life Sciences building on the BYU campus — including the office of my step-dad, who had a big whiteboard on the wall. Every day when he came to work, he would find a hastily-drawn stick figure depiction of something that had happened the day before — the day my step-dad mowed the lawn in his new riding lawnmower, the day my brother got married, etc. He took photos of each of the memories before I came in the next morning to erase and draw a new one.
When I got a new job I started doing my whiteboard drawings in a little black notebook. One memory drawn in black pen every day. Some days had big moments to draw: The day my mom interviewed for grad school and my brother interviewed with Lego. Others had moments that would have otherwise been forgotten: The day my little brother sold homemade quesadillas on the sidewalk, the array of sun hats my family would steal from my mom’s closet to shield our eyes during “home church” in the back yard.
Now that journal is a treasured capsule of snapshot memories that may have been lost to time.
People continue the tradition of journaling for many reasons. Journaling has been proven to reduce anxiety and depression, improve memory, help you cope with trauma and even boost your immune system. Journaling can help you reframe your day, month or year, and your future family historians will thank you for your record keeping.
But you’re not alone if you have a box of journals that have entries starting in January of a new year, but trickle to a stop in February or March as the New Year’s motivation fades. Life gets busy, and time-consuming journaling can feel overwhelming. If you want to journal this year — and you want it to last throughout the year — try one of these unconventional methods instead of traditional journaling.
Cartoon journaling
All you need is a notebook with unlined paper, a pen of your choosing (I prefer felt tip pens) and an ability to draw stick figures. The drawings do not need to be elaborate, they just need to have enough detail to remind you of a memory. Include speech bubbles as needed.
Prompted journaling
For my wedding, my sister-in-law gave me the “Love Story” Promptly Journal, a book packed with prompts for us to record details from our first date and first kiss to the presents we gave each other each year on our birthdays and how we celebrate each anniversary.
Guided journaling like this is perfect for someone who wants to jot down some details a few times a year. There are prompted journals to record relationships, children, adoptions, holidays and birthdays.
An ‘everything’ journal
A friend of mine likes to record everything from lists, ideas and more “traditional” journal entries to drawings, recipes, notes, project ideas and conversations she needs to have. She prefers an unlined notebook to a fancy hardcover journal to maintain the flexibility and casual expectations. This kind of journal leaves room to write as often or as little as you’d like and in whatever method you are feeling at that moment.
Scrapbook journaling
Similar to an “everything” journal, scrapbook journaling is flexible and not an everyday requirement. You can tape in tickets from a play you attended, a polaroid from a birthday party or a child’s drawing. Just write dates or short captions next to what you include.
Letter journaling
If you write letters to a grandparent, a friend, a pen pal, a child or others, save a copy for yourself to read later. Even if they aren’t conventional pen-and-paper letters — they can be emails, text messages, voice messages etc. — save them! My mom has found some hilarious memories recorded in emails to my grandmother when my siblings and I were little.
Audio journaling
Your phone likely has an app for voice recording. If you don’t have time to sit and write, you can tell your memories to your phone. The benefits of audio recordings are in the ability to capture your tone of voice, your laugh, and even your vocalization skills if you enjoy singing. You can either keep them as recordings or use a transcription service to turn your recordings into a book.
A line a day journaling
Commit to writing only one sentence for each day. Keep it simple and record the theme of the day, the most important thing that happened, what you are most grateful for or what you learned. If you don’t let yourself write more than one sentence, you are much less likely to become overwhelmed as the year progresses and life gets busier.
Journaling apps
There are an array of journaling apps that can help you record your life in different ways, easily include photos and stay organized. Journaling apps also let you set reminders so that you don’t forget to write each day.
As 2024 begins, there will be plenty of new memories to record — but time is a precious commodity, and not all of us have the luxury of an hour a day to sit and journal. These eight unconventional methods might help you keep your New Year’s resolution, after all.
