How to write in your personal diary.

Often the subject of journaling crops up in conversation, on social media, business meetings and even in hobby circles. So many of us want to indulge ourselves or explore the concept. It feels rather sophisticated, a pass time of the elite, to that end it frightens most of us, we feel under educated or lack the experience in life to enable us to explore such a creative outlet. We may even find that our lives are not as exciting or eventful as those who use a journal, all of these excuses are nothing more than self sabotaging ideas to prevent us from stepping out of our comfort zone and exploring our own thoughts.

A less frightening form of journaling is a personal diary. Most of us at one time or another have had a personal diary, either as a child, a young teen or perhaps even in our young adult life. We wrote dialogue of our daily life. Journaling is an extension to that.

As an introduction to journaling a personal diary is a good stepping stone. So.... where do we start? What should we write in our personal diary?

1. THINK ABOUT TOPICS OF INTEREST

Make a list of topics, ideas or thoughts that you would like to explore. These ideas may be future plans, work projects or even household chores. A brain dump of everything you want to achieve or that may be bothering you. Those ideas that keep you up at night.

2. SPECIAL MOMENTS

Write about your day. Did you have a special moment? Who did you talk to, what did they say? What went well, what do you want to do better next time. What part of your day was your favourite. Did you forget something important?

3. GOALS

Have you set any goals lately? You may think you have never set goals, we all have but for the most part they are set in our heads. We don't document them so we have no record of them, therefore we think that we didn't set them. Your personal diary is a great place to set your future goals, the place you return to regularly to check in with yourself, to see how far you have come and how far you want to go.

4. HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY?

Does anyone ever ask you that question? If they do, I bet it's not often. Use your personal diary to check in with yourself. How do you feel today? How is your mood? How did you get here? How do you plan to move forward? use your personal diary to monitor and track your emotions.

5. INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES

When I am feeling a little blah!! nothing speaks to my heart more than reading inspirational quotes or listening to my favourite inspirational speaker. A personal diary is a great place to log some of your favourites, a reference if you like, where you can revert back to in days of need.

6. EXPLORATION

Do you have a favourite topic of interest? A hobby? How about a favourite destination? Your personal diary can be a great place to explore and expand your knowledge.

HOW TO CREATE A PERSONAL ENTRY.

Now that we have a list of options of what exactly we can put into our personal diary, the question I get asked every day, " How exactly do I write an entry?" Today we are going to go through the process step by step, giving you some examples that you can follow to expand your writing in your personal diary.

At the beginning of each new entry, no matter how much or how little you plan to write, you must start with the date and time of the entry. This will become important when you look back on these pages and try to figure out what was going on in a particular date and time.

Each diary entry should begin with a topic in mind. It doesn't matter what the topic is, it will help your flow of writing if you have an idea of what you are going to write about.

Dear Diary, This may be helpful if you are struggling to start your first sentence. When writing your diary entries it can be helpful to imagine you are writing to a friend. What would you tell them? how would you describe your day? Think of how things look, the scents, and sounds and how it felt. Describing all of the senses is a great way to capture an event that you may want to reconnect with at a later time.

I

Always write in the first person. Use "I" in all statements that you are writing so as you don't confuse the reader as to who this statement or paragraph pertains to.

Honesty

It is so easy to get carried away with your writing. Do not dramatise your writing. This entry is about you, it is not a novel about someone else, try to keep all of the facts in tact, do not extend the truth, be honest in all that you write.

Grammar & Spelling

Remember this is your diary, don't worry about spelling and grammar. Perfection is not a requirement here. This is your personal diary, no one is judging you. It can be as pretty or as clumsy as you like. The important rule to remember is that you write regularly.

Details

When writing in your diary it is important to capture as many details as possible. One day you may read this back. Writing descriptively is important to revive the memory. Close your eyes and visualise the scene you are trying to write about. Imagine you are retelling this scene to someone who is blind, how would you recreate it for them?

CREATING A ROUTINE

Personal diary writing requires consistency. Your diary must become part of your daily routine. Choose a specific time each day to write. A time of day that is free from distraction and interruption.

Some people prefer before bed when they are winding down for the evening while others prefer first thing in the morning before their busy day begins. Choose what is right for you.

To begin with I recommend you keep your writing sessions short, don't overwhelm yourself by pushing yourself to write chapters unless like me you love to write.

If writing is not your forte but you still want to keep a diary, why not try drawing, use illustrations and sketches to describe events and topics in your personal diary.

Regardless of topic, beginner or seasoned pro, the adventure of diary writing should be an enjoyable experience. I hope that you love your new routine, I look forward to hearing about your experiences of diary writing, let me know in the comments below.

xx lei

HAPPINESS IS - WRITING A DIARY - Anon