Hygge Series: Journaling

Hygge. You feel at peace and are able to enjoy life’s simple pleasures.

We’ve all had a little extra practice at enjoying life’s simple pleasures lately, am I right? COVID has forced us all to slow down a little bit. It’s given us a lot of extra time and while I enjoy binging Netflix and eating Cheetos after my kids go to bed as much as the next person, I do have to say it gets old after a bit.

When I finally started to reach out for normalcy, I found myself sorely disappointed. What is life right now? I’m not sure if its the extra time, the need for clarity in a mad world, or a desire to self reflect on my own personal values and goals that lead to me journaling. 

I literally haven’t journaled since my first baby was probably about 18months old. Terrible, I know.  But I started the other day again and it was SO therapeutic. I only wrote a page. But it was so nice to have those thoughts out of my head and onto paper.

Here’s some points I’ve been pondering about journaling.

1. Don’t set yourself up for failure. I haven’t put any terms to writing in my journal. No, “I’m going to write every day” or “I’m going to write at least a page a night.” This non committal journaling approach makes it easier to return without feeling like you’ve already failed. Life is hard right now. You can have a good journaling experience while also honoring your feelings of the moment. We are all taking life one day at a time.

2. Use a journaling app. Let’s just let go of the idea of having a handwritten journal ok? I give you permission to not have a  hand written journal. My University education is in history so I have always reveled in the idea of hand written stories preserved through time. But whatever... I guess I’ll let it go. My husband uses day one and it makes writing and uploading pictures SO easy. It’s better to record your thoughts in an imperfect way than to never record them at all. Done is better than perfect. 

3. There are so many benefits. Writing in a journal helps to organize thoughts, improve writing, relieves stress and inspires creativity.  I don’t know about you but I could use a good dose of all of these things right about now!

I also compiled a list of things döz community members shared to help them stay consistent. Not perfect, consistent.

-I journal in my planner.

- I do it once a week on Friday to recap the week and new things my baby does as he grows. 

- I love the journals that have prompts for every day... helps so much to get started.

-I’ve been making family photo books for the past few years and they are great!

I hope this snöözletter receives you well and that you make some time for yourself to spend journaling. 

Best

Tess