There are times when you are mentally down and don’t feel like talking with anyone. Sometimes it happens that you aren’t able to recollect a special memory and you feel the urge to have the means to capture memories.Everyone has surely been into one of these situations and we try to find out ways to handle these situations better. Journal writing is one such way. For those who are hearing this for the first time, journal writing is nothing but an informal way of putting thoughts to paper. Well, then how’s it different from a normal piece of writing? Let us look into this in more details.
What is Journal Writing?
Journals intend to capture memories or creative ideas that you might want to revisit at a later stage in your life. It could be anything. It could be the memories that you made while you were pregnant or it could be something related to the regional event that you won while you were at college. Basically, any special memory or any important life event that you want to capture can be turned into a journal.
Although it may seem very easy to put thoughts to paper, there might be several roadblocks or challenges that you might come across while writing journals. Here we would be discussing about the major challenges that you might face while writing journals and how to get rid of them.
Challenges while writing journals
- What do write on? Which topic to choose? Being confused about what to write on usually happens for new journal writers. There are so many things to choose. For example, it could be a relationship journal including the important people who came in your life, or it also could be a journal where you capture your story and commitment towards achieving a particular goal. Having too many ideas often creates confusion.
- What do start with? This is another common problem every writer faces. We often have so much in mind but are stuck while writing our ideas. It’s like you have decided on the idea that you would be journaling on but you are stuck up and aren’t able to start.
- Not feeling like writing:Widely known as the writer’s block, this challenge is faced by every single writer where one simply wants to get rid of writing.
- Hesitant in opening yourself: Another challenge one faces while writing a journal is that he is hesitant in opening up and writing the truth. There occurs a conflict. It’s like you wanted to keep the memory but the memory is embarrassing.
So these were the challenges that one might come across while writing a journal. Here are some very simple solutions to overcome these challenges.
Solutions to overcome challenges
- Reduce your sample space – The best solution to select the topic for your journal writing is to reduce your thinking domain by selecting specific categories. Like, do you want to write memories made on a special occasion, or do you want to write about the creative ideas that you might want to implement while working on a start up? Think categorically.
- Start Writing Randomly – If you are not sure where to start from, just pickup a random date and jot down the memories you want to capture. Going on thinking doesn’t help. Putting down the pen to paper does.
- Take a break – If you feel like taking a break from writing, do take a short one. Utilize the break in doing things you love like maybe listen to music, play video games etc. Once you feel energized, you are ready to write.
- Be honest to yourself – Write down your experience as they happened. Altered memories won’t give you the same joy as the original ones. Writing the truth makes you feel much better emotionally and you’d surely have a great sleep at night.
Journal Challenges do come everywhere. It’s important you overcome them and start your journal. Journal writing is a wonderful activity and has immense benefits including ones that are related to your physical and mental well being. So, don’t worry about the challenges and write a wonderful journal that you would be able to enjoy over a cup of coffee, when you look at it after years.