My Birthday Tradition
and practical journalling tips
Each birthday, I encircle myself with the journals I’ve filled over the last year, like a seance calling forth my past selves. I pass the transition from year to the next immersed in the most notable experiences, transported page by page into the process I didn’t realize was so important at the time.
Some pages have a single word scrawled across it, some have doodles along the side, others denote stream of consciousness ramblings. Others still are in response to a specific prompt, like “what have I learned to exchange for love?”, while others are curled at the edges like waves from being heavy-laden with paint.
I know some who burn their journals periodically as a cathartic release from one season to another and that could be so helpful - but I’m the opposite. I hoard my journals as emotional talismans, like stepping stones carefully laid leading me closer to the centre of myself.
Etched on the pages of each black coil journal, I am surprised and proud of my past self for all she saw, tried to understand and processed along the way. When my emotional necklace has knotted around itself, journaling is what untangles it.
But I haven’t always been able to put pen[cil] to paper seamlessly. These are a few of the ways I’ve slowly integrated journalling in multiple forms into my life. Each season of life invites a new way to journal so it’s an ever evolving practice!
Record yourself talking to yourself as a voice memo on your phone - I promise it hits different recording it, even if you never listen to it
With a paper journal, start with just ONE word - the FIRST word that comes to mind
Use different mediums - journalling with oil pastels is one of my favourites
Try responding to a journal prompt - like these. If I’m stuck, it’s usually because I need gutter guards for my brain to help focus all my thoughts & feelings
Read a poem (like by Rupi Kaur) and write about your reflections on the poem
Or find some cool art on Pinterest and practice reflecting in the same way
Start with a good ol’ “Dear Diary, today I…” and recount events as they happened - you’ll be surprised what else emerges
Write letters - to your past self, future self, people you love, hate, admire or are annoyed with. Just make sure not to send them - at least yet
If journaling is a New Year’s Resolution, be gentle with yourself! Spending time to listen to yourself is harder than it may seem. It’s important you have the Space, Tools and Support to integrate journaling into your life!
Try a journal with no lines or maybe you need one with lines! I prefer smaller journals (A5 size) so that I don’t feel the pressure to FILL a full page
Have a space you can journal comfortably and ideally keep your journal nearby. Out of sight out of mind is such a real thing so keeping your journal IN sight will make it more likely to happen
Spend the first 15 minutes hanging out with a friend journaling individually - body doubling can be such a helpful, co-regulatory container and it’s a beautiful way to share intimacy
And above all - reduce the expectations you have for yourself. If you write ONE word, congratulations! You journalled!
Lowering your expectations will inevitably create a positive momentum and you’ll WANT to journal more. So often, our self-care can feel like a chore because it’s just another thing to check off the list, instead of time to deepen your relationship with yourself.
You are not a checklist - you are a multifaceted Self with so much to share. You deserve to have space to share that which emerges from within you.
