Journal Postcards
Hi Friends,
I’ve always been a bit rubbish at journaling.
Maybe also a little intimidated by a blank page. And maybe a little bit guilty of it not coming naturally, as I constantly hear how beneficial it is for your mental health. I’ve never managed to commit to keeping a daily journal or even a weekly one. I’ve bought notebooks for the the very purpose of journaling, which are inevitably left unfilled after an initial attempt.
I never knew how much to write, or whether I should include drawings or photos or what I ate. Should I be tracking everything I do, or would it trigger some anxiety? Will it take time away from actually living life? I never knew how much was too much and didn’t want to do too little either (I mean who I thought was going to judge this, I don’t know).
I’ve been doing a lot of reading and listening (of podcasts) on creativity and art recently and one of the pieces of advice that is repeated often is giving yourself limitations.
So, I decided that instead of an empty page or a journal, I would use a piece of card the size of a postcard instead. I bough 100 record cards from WHSmiths but I have also seen on their website that they have postcard blanks too.
This ‘limitation’ on how much space I can fill up, gives me a place to draw if I want to and a place to write text. So far, it feels like just enough to get some key thoughts down from the day, sometimes I write questions instead, but not enough that I get drained half way through and regret ever starting. My hand tends to cramp up while writing and I also have some pretty terrible handwriting which suffers the longer I try to write. I can write as little as I want and it still fills up a space. The text doesn’t look lonely.
I’ve been trying to write/draw one postcard each day this week and so far so good. I’m sit down after dinner but before bed and it doesn’t take a lot of time to write whats in my mind. Hopefully this will soon become a habit.
There’s something evocative about making yourself a hand scrawled postcard. It feels more personal than writing in a notebook. I feel that I am writing to myself, not about myself and that can only deepen the relationship I am building with myself.
BAD HANDWRITING
I am not sending these to myself through the post, which would be cost prohibitive as well as a bit too vulnerable making. What if someone reads them! I’m an oversharer but even I have limits. Instead, I am repurposing a card box I had at my wedding. It’s shaped like a suitcase and has a slot for popping in cards and a panel in the bottom to retrieve whats been posted. It will now contain my emotional baggage.
When I use up all my record cards, I will open up the card box and have a look inside. I think I have enough record cards for 12 weeks if I use one each day.
I’ll let you know how it goes and whether it was worth it and whether I keep up with it