I’ve been trying to ~journal~ forever. Nobody tells you how damn hard it is. What journal do I use? What pen do I use? Where do I do this journaling? Why is it so hard to write from bed? Why is it so hard to write? My hand hurts. Maybe it’s this journal. I should get a new one. Journaling will be easier with my new Moleskine. Shit, maybe it’s this pen. Wow, it’s especially hard to write from the bathtub. Wait, is it the bathtub??? The vibes feel off in this bathroom. Should I remodel? Sweets, this is an apartment. Ok, what if I moved? Who do I even think I am trying to ~journal~ ?

I hope this is relatable to some, because it’s not to my boyfriend, who has journaled by hand practically every single day of his life. Simply put, he’s better than us.

Feeling overwhelmed by an empty page, I set out to design my own journaling process that suits me, my anxious little mind, and my weak little hand.

It’s intentionally designed to make you notice all the little things in life that spark joy, and rewire the way you think about everyday things. And, it’s easy to do. And if you don’t do it every day, or you take a month off, it truly doesn’t matter. That’s actually the whole point of this practice — to bring you back to life and help you re-orient after you’ve fallen off the wagon for a month because ya god damn boss is always asking for too much. Something about a boss … they always need somethin.

The Daily Journal

I created two journal templates in Notion: daily and Sunday, each with its own purpose. Let’s start with the daily journal. It’s split up like this:

Morning

• Goals
• Affirmations
• Excited About
• Top of Mind

Evening

• Accomplishments
• Gratitudes
• Excited About
• Top of Mind

With extra space for random thoughts, rambles, and rants.

It’s pretty self-explanatory, but let a girl explain something self-explanatory, because she wants to.

Goals & Accomplishments

If you’re anything like me, you notice all the things you didn’t accomplish, not giving yourself any credit for all the things you did. This is how my mind constantly works. I make a to-do list with 5 items. I got 3 out of 5 done. It doesn’t matter. All I’m thinking about is the 2 that I didn’t get done.

This part of the journal was inspired by a conversation I had with my therapist. At the time, I used an app to track to-dos, and the way I had it set up, I was only ever staring at what I hadn’t done. THIS IS HORRIBLE FOR A PERSON LIKE ME. I needed to see what I actually accomplished. Far beyond a simple to-do list, I needed to learn to give myself much more credit.

This is when I started tracking simple daily goals and accomplishments. Writing them down and actually giving myself credit for them helps me feel productive and successful throughout my day. And that leads to confidence. And confidence? That leads to accomplishing anything you set your mind to.

Let me rummage through my journal and share some examples I’ve written down to show how basic they can be, because life is about recognizing your small wins along the way to your big wins. That was cheesy, but it’s fine.

Goals

• Be on time to pottery
• Relax this evening
• Eat a good lunch
• Go on a nice walk
• Nails
• Stretch
• Make shrimp bowl
• Take Beau to the dog park
• Wake up early
• Be calm and peaceful

Accomplishments

• Ate a healthy breakfast
• Hung pictures
• Pilates
• Laundry
• Listed FB marketplace items
• Relaxed
• In bed early
• Hang with friends
• Walks with Beau
• Didn’t clench my jaw while working!

Making the nail appointment, going to the nail appointment, that is a god damn accomplishment if I’ve ever heard one.

Things I never accomplished: being on time for pottery. We can’t win ‘em all.

Affirmations & Gratitudes

Let’s take a look at this woo-woo affirmations/gratitudes thing. Before you roll your eyes, hear me out.

People love to tell an anxious girl to say some affirmations and gratitudes in the mirror. “I am smart. I am kind. I am a baddddie.” I used to think all this was BS, but I've found it quite useful when split into morning affirmations and evening gratitudes. And, it's really not necessary to do it in a mirror.

This is what mine typically look like:

Affirmations

• I am smart and people take me seriously
• I bring value to my friendships
• People enjoy my energy
• I am allowed to have an off day and that doesn’t mean I will lose my friends
• I take care of the people in my life
• I am allowed to feel disappointed and upset
• Not everything needs a reason
• If I hold my head high, stick to my values, and lead with kindness, I will attract the right people and experiences into my life
• It’s ok that I find it hard to trust others
• I always know I can pick myself back up when I’m sad. It’s ok to feel sad and down, sit with it, you know you’ll bring yourself back up when you’re ready.
• We will get there. Keep putting the reps in. I’m laying all the foundation. It’s a lot of work. Give yourself grace for it taking a while.
• I can start today
• I know what I’m doing, I know where I’m going
• It’s reasonable right now to be feeling a bit sluggish and down
• I don’t need to be rude to myself, my work is good, I don’t need to question it
• I can reach out to my friends when I need and I can be vulnerable with them

Gratitudes

• I’m grateful for being able to eat healthy food and nourish my body
• I’m grateful to have good friends to workout with
• I’m grateful to feel clean and at peace in my home early in the morning
• I’m grateful to be able to drink amazing coffee
• Beau Beau
• Yummy organic food
• January sun
• I’m grateful I’m so close with my sister
• I’m grateful I have a therapist I trust
• I’m grateful to be able to celebrate my birthday with friends

Sometimes Beau has morning affirmations too … but he’s a bit shy to share right now.

Excited About

For some context nobody asked for, I am obsessed with making breakfast. Ever since college, this has been what brings me joy. I’d go to bed at night excited for my morning coffee and the gorgeous breakfast I was going to make.

At a certain point in my life, I suffered pretty badly from depression, and I completely lost this sense of joy. It took me so damn long to get this feeling back, but I fkn worked for it, and it’s here, and it’s here in full force. We are COOOKKKIN in the am.

For me, there is nothing better than romanticizing a weekday breakfast with 3 forms of liquid: 1 for hydration, 1 for caffeine, 1 for joy. You know what I’m talkin about. You’re hungover, you go out to breakfast with your friends, you decide to splurge and you say: Can I have a latte AND a fresh squeezed orange juice. Ok, best morning ever.

Maybe you’re not hungover, maybe you’re just on vacation, but you get it. I want to feel like I’m on vacation.

So, this little section is all about joy. Sometimes it’s hard, but if you look deep enough, you can usually find something to be excited about. A new episode of your favorite tv show? A fresh batch of strawberries from the grocery store? A long warm shower? A candle-lit top ramen dinner? Too niche? Whatever, try it sometime.

Here are some joyful moments I found in the archives:

• I’m excited to wake up early and have a delicious breakfast and go on a long walk with Beau
• Dinner with the girls
• Being productive this week
• Having a productive and restorative weekend
• I am super excited about my sewing class
• To make yummy brunch on Sunday
• To have the house to myself this weekend
• I’m excited to fall in love
• I am excited that I’m starting to get back into a routine again
• Having a good week where I feel present: laundry, good food, good workouts, friends, clean home

Top of Mind

Last but not least, I like to write out things that are “top of mind” both in the morning and at night. I have a lot going on in my mind at all times, and this practice helps me get things out of my head and onto paper.

Top of mind items aren’t necessarily current goals. Sometimes these are creative ideas that keep coming back to me. And sometimes it’s admin. Why is there always so much admin? Beau, can you do my admin?

If there is something that keeps popping up like wow I really need to make an appointment for that Jeep recall, THIS IS WHAT'S BOGGING ME DOWN RIGHT NOW. Then, I can add it to my top of mind list and decide if I want to do something about it in that moment or another day. Either way, we’ve freed the mind just a tad. And that feeling is nice.

My top of mind things are random, but I suppose I can provide an example or two or too many.

• Blog post ideas
• Sewing project ideas
• Work trip styling
• The strawberries that are going to rot in my fridge if I don’t eat them
• The blueberries that are rotting in my fridge
• Ordering new pillows because my neck is recked (do you like my swear word replacement?)
• Laundry (when I keep thinking of the fact that I have an overflowing bin of laundry, I need to just do it to free my mind, and stop freeballing it)
• Stretching
• Taxes (ugh, didn’t I just do these?)
• Maybe like check the mailbox?