Chapter 5

‘I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.’ Anne Frank

How many times have you thought about starting a journal but have never been able to find the time to make it happen. There are so many contradicting things we need to achieve that it can seem a real luxury can’t it to devote time every single day to this task?

With the intention of sharing my life story with others I recently bought a scrapbook and like most things it took a while to get started, but a very few, closely linked, wet weekends saw me begin my adventure and to tell my story. My scrapbook consists mainly of my life in photographs, in the order in which my life emerged. It tells of my baby days; my childhood days; my love for anything sporty; my friendships; my family life; my first marriage and most recently my second marriage. It tells of my career as a nurse. The first time I wore my uniform. My graduation days. My induction into the Queens Nursing Institute as a Queen’s Nurse and it got me thinking. We tell our life stories in so many different ways, through diaries and journals, through photographs, through images, through scrapbooks and artefacts, certificates and other sacrosanct memorabilia.

Keeping a journal is very special to each of us who manage to find the time to commit to regular writing. Every New Year I use my journal to reflect on the year just gone, what I achieved, what I’d tried to achieve and what basically was unachievable, but I had a go. It makes life interesting and because I am always looking for new adventures, new ways to do more, I am always looking for opportunities. And its these opportunities that fill my journals.

All this and more will emerge as I show you how to create your own journaling experience. How to look forward to documenting your day. How to release tension; gain catharsis; close doors and open new ones, all with a few strokes of a pen or clicks of a keyboard. It is possible. Each end of year I plan what I will do the following year and 2023 is no different. I will welcome 2024 with open arms.

My personal action plan and journaling is frequently a variety of often random thoughts, personal goals that appear to be non-achievable, but it works. Each month I look at this plan and my journal and ask myself – Am I on track? If not, what do I need to do to get back on track? Do my dreams and aspirations still fit with my life right now? Things can change very quickly for me and I don’t want to spend time on anything I no longer find important. Not even when just a few weeks ago I considered it to be the one thing I couldn’t live without; the one single idea I wanted to develop, the one single opportunity I wanted to create. If they no longer serve a purpose, out they go.

There have been many famous diarists from Samuel Pepys of the Great Fire of London fame in 1666, to Lewis Carroll of Alice in Wonderland and perhaps the saddest of all Anne Frank who wrote about her time spent in hiding before her deportment along with her family, to the concentration camps.

So why do so many of us journal?

It helps keep memories for posterity. It helps keep them alive. Over time you will lose that strong emotion you felt on your wedding day, on the birth of your first child, the death of a family member. You just don’t know it at the time. A journal can give you the opportunity to channel your love and compassion and yes on occasion anger and frustration. Reading back, being in the moment with your writing, catapults you back to that time. Use words that are emotive don’t spare your true feelings. Write until you have clarity.

Journaling can also help you get through a challenging time. I started mine when I needed to give 3 months’ notice in a job. It kept me motivated. Today journalling helps create a sense of calm and peace in my life and reduces stress and anxiety, much like my visits to cemeteries. It also helps pull me out of procrastination.

I now write about my experiences, straight onto my computer and think how they would fit with a new blog or a chapter in a new book. Many of which you will read on my website. I am always making connections. Such connections can often make for interesting reading. At least I hope so.