Journaling Through Life's Ups & Downs

This week has felt like a rollercoaster, with a mixture of both good and bad news coming in every day. It's at times like this that I value my journaling time the most.

Sometimes my mind feels so jumbled, that it's only by unloading my thoughts into my journals that I can gain any proper sense of perspective.

Whilst I share a lot of my journals online, I also have one that is entirely private where I work through everything that is swirling in my mind.

My daily journal provides a quick summary of things that have happened each day. I add a little decoration in advance and then finish off the pages, usually at some point during the day on Sunday. The floral image on the right-hand page was from the collage book that I shared in last week's blog post.

These journal entries are pretty short due to the limited space, but that's actually one of the things I love about this journal. Having those limitations encourages me to summarise my day quickly and that in itself can help to bring some perspective. If I feel like I'm having a bad week, reading back through some of my daily entries can also help to remind me of the positive things that have happened.

Work projects have definitely been keeping me busy and I find my Hobonichi journal so helpful in keeping me on top of everything. I am working on several different projects at the same time and I absolutely love the variety, but it does mean that I need to stay organised. Keeping my mind busy is one of the ways I deal with more difficult times as it stops me from dwelling and worrying too much.

I often get asked about my planning routine, so maybe that's something I will cover in more depth in a future blog post or video. But in short, every weekend I spend some time planning out my priorities and tasks for the following week, scheduling them into the days that I hope to work on them. Each evening, I review how my day has been and then write out my tasks for the next day. These lists often get added to throughout the day, but I do try to keep my main priorities in mind.

With so much that can feel outside of our control, I find a certain comfort in being able to structure my days and throw myself into enjoyable projects.

I completed these pages in my art journal after watching the most recent Wanderlust class, taught by Camila Garcia. When I'm feeling a little on edge, I find that working on something creative can be hugely soothing. Paying attention to the little details and trying out new techniques is a really good way of focusing your thoughts elsewhere for a while and providing a temporary escape.

Since taking part in Junk Journal July, I've really been feeling inspired to keep up with this journal. I absolutely love all the pretty papers and how stress-free this type of journaling is. It's such a great place for tucking in leaflets, maps, cards and tickets too. There is also something about the different size pages that I find really appealing.

My Patreon video this week is a creative journaling session. Each month on Patreon I release a list of journal prompts for the month and these pages are based on the prompts "important moments" and "blue and pink". I find it really useful having some prompts to act as a springboard for my journal pages, especially on days where I'm feeling light on inspiration. You can join my Patreon journaling community here.

My publishers recently sent me another gorgeous book called Drawing for the Soul by Zoe Ingram which is coming out in early September. It arrived at the perfect time for me. I decided to try out the first project which is this mushroom, using charcoal and pencil on kraft paper. I'm so pleased with how it came out and am really excited to try out lots of other projects in the book too.

My whole desk is surrounded by beautiful art and craft books and I wouldn't have it any other way. So much of my day is spent on the computer, so having inspiring books to turn to is one of life's real pleasures and a great way of switching off from technology and the world for a while.

Finally, in case you missed it, I have released a new unboxing and journaling video on YouTube. I decided to treat myself to a wonderful stationery box from the Lollipop Box and I'm absolutely thrilled with it. There were so many items included which are just perfect for creative journaling.

I really hope you've enjoyed seeing another week in my journals and that it gives you some ideas for yours too. What is your biggest challenge with journaling? Let me know down below and I will see if I can help in a future blog post, Helen x

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