Everyday Creativity- Journaling

God created me to create. If I don't do something creative in a few days, then I feel ready to yell out in frustration over the rhythmic nothingness of life! But how does creativity fit into a busy schedule of God, school, ballet, family, and church? Well, I want to share with you three ways that I found to bring creativity into a regular part of my life, even the busiest of days.

Part One- Journaling

Part Two- Card Making

Part Three- Party Living

Are you ready? For I feel so excited to assist you on your journey to more creativity!

Journaling.


To me, journaling is just writing. Every person will journal differently, and that's what makes it beautiful! I always journal at the end of the day, and I just briefly write what I did that day and write my feeling, ideas, prayers, and joys. As the days go by, the pages fill up, and it makes a smile spread across my face to see me write about the frustrating days and wonderful days, the exciting days, and the completely normal days.

But whenever I talk about journaling, people usually respond one of two ways (or both of two ways):

One, they don't think that they have time.

And two, they don't think they have anything to write about.

I think not. My life testifies that both of these excuses don't have to keep anyone from journaling. Because the truth says that you have more time than you think and more words than you imagine, and once you start writing them down, you may find that you can't stop.

Let's talk about the first response first. No one has time to journal every day, right? Wrong. But what can prove difficult is developing a habit of journaling. Because we probably won't even remember to journal, and when we do, we always remember in the middle of going to the store or doing schoolwork or something else busy and important. But I have a solution for you, and it comes in two tips:

One: pick a certain time that you can journal during every day. For me, I like to journal in the evenings so that I reflect on my day. This really relaxes me and somehow finalizes the day, and now, I can't go to bed without writing out my thoughts, just like I must brush my teeth and put on pjs (okay, so maybe I sleep in whatever I have on at the end of the day, but you get the point). But you may prefer to journal in the morning or afternoon. Whatever works for you. But pick a time, because that will make it easier to remember your new habit.

Two: Try using a planner first. I started using a planner like this one or this one, and I found that the daily sections motivated me to write every day. Plus, you only can write a few lines every day, so this provides a low-intimidation way to start journaling. When you feel ready to put on your big girl pants, upgrade to a lined journal (like these: here and here and here), but the planner starts you off nice and easy.


Next, you might think that you have nothing interesting to write. But I seriously doubt that. Serious doubt going on right here. Because once you have a pen and paper, nothing can go wrong. Your entries can be the boringest entries in the world, but they will still hold value, because you wrote them. And the more you write, the easier journaling will become.

I admit it, my journal entries can get pretty boring. I just write about my regular days in regular ways, but I still write it. I write a picture of my day, thoughts, prayers, and dreams. Sometimes they are uninteresting, but that's okay. Because one day I will look back on these journals and know what teenager me thought and acted like, on normal days and big days. Both kinds of days are important, so both kinds of journal entries are important.

Following are some ideas to jump-start your journaling:

*Write about your day. Just what you did. Did you like it? Did it bore you? Did you see an Elvis impersonator? Did the sellers at the mall creep you out? Did the birds sing to wake you up? Did the wind play with you skirt? You get the idea.

*Write a prayer to God. These are some of my favorite journal moments, and what starts as a simple recount of my day ends up being a prayer more times than not.

*Write things that you are thankful for. I like to do this during November, because, you know, November is all-things-thankful month, but this draws out focus to the blessings every day.

*Make lists. What's your favorite movie, book, and song? Little things, big things, everything!

*Draw. All you artsy people out there, draw it out!

*Write about here and now. What do you dream? What do you see? What do you fear? What do you smell? Write the details and the concepts and everything in between.

These are only a few journaling tips, and I wouldn't consider myself an expert at all, but I hope that I've inspired you to think about journaling if you haven't already. If you already journal, then I hope I've inspired you to keep going. I've definitely inspired myself to use my creativity more when journaling! Stay tuned for part two: making cards! And comment below what you've discovered about journaling!

Princess Hannah