Overcoming Obstacles

Feeling like you won’t be able to sustain the practice.

Keep it simple.

Do it everyday.

Don’t beat yourself up if you miss a day.

Getting distracted

• Set an alert for a time of day when you're the least likely to be distracted. Try a reminder or calendar alert or just set an alarm.

• Turn off notifications, set a timer.

• Go to a place that you don’t associate with work or other activities (sit on the floor or in a stairwell or parked car).

Feeling like you don’t have time

• Remember that the time it takes to write an entry can be as short as 30 seconds.

• Use bulleted lists.

• Set a timer for whatever time you think you can spare

Note-taking fatigue

If you journal by hand, try writing notes for your entries digitally using a notes app on your phone or computer. You can use these notes as reference when you’re handwriting your entries.

Screen fatigue (digital)

If you journal digitally, try taking a break from the screen by handwriting some entries. Take pictures of the handwritten pages to insert into your digital journal.

Concerns about privacy

You can write as though you know someone will find and read your journal until you get comfortable with the practice and develop a sense of what feels safe for you.

Know that it’s your journal and you can remove or edit any content.

Worrying that you have nothing to write about or that what you’re writing is boring

• Boring entries are the glue that hold together the interesting entries.

• Days when not much is happening are great for taking time to pay attention to things that seem unimportant at first glance.

• Uneventful times are perfect for maintaining and developing a practice that can be sustained during stressful times.

• Uneventful days allow you to slow down, check in and take notice of things that slip through the cracks on busy days.

• If you struggle with content, try giving your entries some structure. You can consider using a format like using bullet points or lists in the morning and at night and allowing the entry to be more free-form during the day. For example:

  • morning: a list of things to do or of things you appreciate

  • during the day - free association occurences, thoughts, ideas.

  • at night - a list of accomplishments or of your favorite parts of the day.

• Write a quick summary of the day then revisit previous entries or do some retroactive journaling.

• Remember that on any given day, if you didn’t do anything that you thought was interesting, chances are you did at least one thing to take care of yourself and that deserves to be recorded.

A journal made up of a year’s worth of entries of varying interest is more interesting than one with just a few interesting entries

and is much more interesting than a journal that isn’t written.

I guess in my diary I’m not afraid to be boring. It’s not my job to entertain anyone in my diary. - David Sedaris

Sometimes the smallest things take up the most room in your heart. -A.A. Milne

Feeling like you have too much to write about

Keep it simple.

• Use bullet points.

• Write news headlines.

• Write a quick summary of what you spent most of the day doing.

• Summarize how you felt for most of the day.

Feeling guilty for not starting it earlier

You can journal retroactively, starting your journal at any point in the past and writing what you remember. Use memory triggers:

• Emails that you sent

• Texts exchanged during that time

• Record of phone calls

• Photos in your library

• Your calendar

• News headlines

Wondering how honest you need to be

• Write what you feel that you can write.

• Know that it doesn’t have to be perfect.

• Be patient while you find your own comfort zone.

Feeling guilty about doing something for yourself

Self-help 101: You’ll have more to offer people if you take care of yourself.

You cannot serve from an empty vessel. -Eleanor Brownn

Perfectionism

• Your journal is one of the many things in life that don’t have to be perfect.

• You don’t have to have skill or experience with writing.

• You don’t have to have good penmanship.

• Journaling is never a waste of time, money or materials.

• The only wrong way to journal is to not journal.