Are you a journal lover or someone who loves to buy new journals and you don't know how to fill them up? Here are 8 ideas that will knock your creative socks off!
Mood and Dream board You feeling a lil creative? Well that's great! Get yourself a whole bunch of magazine or newspaper clippings or print some stuff from the internet, whether that is pictures of things you want, inspire you or mean something or quotes. You can use any materials you want to create this. Add some buttons, glitter, fabric etc. or anything else that reminds you of something that makes you feel good or something you want.
Bullet Journal (BuJo) If you don't find the annual diaries useful, have a go with the bullet journal as it is very flexible so you can get as creative with this as you want. The original creator of the BuJo, Ryder Carrol explains the set up of this journal on his website. I admit I don't use mine everyday but it has been very useful for me since I can have a section for everything and I've made mine to work around me. Start of with a very simple design and then you can get adventurous but don't feel like it has to be anything super complicated. It is supposed to be a fun so enjoy getting creative. I use Pinterest to get inspo to plan my every new month so check out my board for some great stuff!
Gratitude journal A gratitude journal is a place where you can write all the things that you are grateful for. Some of the benefits for this are: lowers stress, gain perspective on what is important to you and and helps you learn more about yourself.
Diary Keeping a diary is great, the reason being that you can jot down all your thoughts and emotions in a safe place where no one needs to know. Write down whatever you want: your emotions, your favourite moments of the day, your favourite meal, what your were wearing etc. You can have a daily journal, or weekly or whenever you feel like it. It's also interesting when you go back and read the stuff you've written, you can see how you've grown, the things that excite you, the things that no longer bother you and more. You don't need to keep a physical diary if you're scared someone is going to find it. There are online resources like your emails or Word Document or Apple Pages, or Notes etc. If you share a laptop with someone, you can store the document on a USB. Just see what is best for you and do that. I used to keep a diary from a very young age but I got rid of a lot of that stuff and I regret that because there were so many important things I wrote in them and I burnt them one day. I have started writing one a few years back which has been on and off so I write when I feel like I have no one else to speak to or my thoughts need to remain private. When I've gone back and read them, I've learnt a lot about myself and looking back, I can spot some of the things that caused my mental health (MH) to get worse. It is great to see how much I've grown over the years. It has given me the opportunity to get to learn myself and all the things that I've gone through and survived.
Listopia So this is what I prefer calling the lists. The things you want to achieve, the places you want to go, the things you're good at, the recipes you want to try, your favourite memories, your go-to places, movies or TV shows to watch and there's so many more list ideas out there. Go for whatever you feel like. You could also have a section for all your to-dos, maybe at the back or front? See what fits you.
Travel journal Getting creative is so therapeutic and making a journal of all the places you've travelled to is a great. Print out the pictures from your travels or the places you wish to travel and dedicate a page, or a few to it. Stick down any plane tickets, train tickets, theatrical tickets or tickets of any sort or labels from items you may have bought. Throw in a bit of glitter and fairy dust while we're here.
Favourite quotes I absolutely love reading quotes because they can be relatable or motivating. You could write down all your favourite quotes, and the way you do this is up to you. Recently, I've started a daily quotes journal where I write one quote a day, that stands out to me. Once I've filled up the journal, I can go back and read them for myself and share it with the people around me as I'm sure others would love to read them too! Once I've gathered enough quotes, I may start sharing quotes via by blog daily or weekly.
Doodle journal Art. Escapism. The feeling of losing yourself in a piece of work is nice, you forget the reality that you're in and can take a break. It is very useful for people who suffer from anxiety or stress because it will help you calm down. You DO NOT need to be like any other artist, you will get better with practice, what you doodle is up to you. It could be straight lines. As long as it is helping you, that's great.