A journal is simply a written record of one’s thoughts, observations, experiences or even activities in life. You may note them down on a regular basis, or occasionally when you feel like writing about something. There are, however, advantages of Journal writing and benefits of journal keeping. Journals do not only help one note down experiences in life that they hold dear and do not want to forget, but also sharpens your brain and enhances perception towards events.
Journaling Tips
Writing journals does not have to be that tedious regular chore; your approach can turn this around to be an activity to yearn daily. There is usually more to write about in journals than may be considered since journals do not confine you to instructions, rules, and other factors.
Take a moment to write about that benchmark experience. Observe others and monitor their actions and behavior carefully, you will note that people can be fictional characters with traits worth noting down. Pay attention and you will find that people speak of so many important, interesting things mostly this is done subconsciously.
Take a walk, a field trip, go for a holiday, and engage a friendly talk, this way you will always find something new and exciting for your journal.
Motivation to journal
Life experiences and events, either your own or those of the people near you will always leave you with a memory to crave. Not all experiences are awkward, yet we live remembering such moments, which only break us down.
Keeping a reminder of the beautiful moments in life, which are so important to us, is worth it. With this comes the necessity and advantage of maintaining a record of such moments.
The more motivation we get to journal, the more we grow personally, mentally and psychologically.
Benefits of journal keeping
It is true that journal keeping helps us to preserve our experiences, achievements and even failures in life and avoid them slipping away from our busy minds. There are more far-reaching benefits worth noting too.
- Developing positive attitude
Writing about events and experiences will help develop a different perception towards such incidents. As a result, you will develop a more positive attitude, not to mention building self-esteem and focus towards life matters. Journal keeping will also develop a realistic approach to issues in life and problem-solving ability.
- Shrugging off emotional stress
Write to express your case, heal and relax emotionally, writing is like speaking to someone out there. When you put your story down on paper, you get this feeling of relief; it is the same way with sharing your story with someone. When you write, you are sure that either you or someone else will read that piece of script sometime in the future. Such a thought at the back of your mind brings you relaxation from the stress or the joy of sharing the account of a splendid time with a stranger.
- Preserving memorable moments
It is always important to note down happenings in our lives, especially those that we want to remain significant, lest new activities arise and overshadow them. If we rely on keeping such information in our mental recollection, these memories will be moved to the long-term memory and eventually forgotten. If we document them in journals while they are still fresh in our minds, we will be able to capture and preserve every detail that is worth keeping. Our personal memory is not reliable in the long-term, since different things happen every new day, turning our attention away from the previous ones.
Freelance writing
Freelance writing entails more than it may be purported. Just working from the comfort of your living room, what can be more appealing? However, it takes more devotion to what you do than just making it for the sake of it. It is taking into consideration the expectations and satisfaction of your clients. This builds the driving force to yield the best quality of work possible.
‘Giving it you’re all attitude’ goes a long way in making one a successful freelancer, as this enables you to give your clients’ satisfaction top priority.
Time is a vital and inevitable factor in freelance writing; beating deadlines is always an achievement that takes time and practice to mature. This is what determines your commitment to what you are doing.
Qualification matters, this is in becoming a success in freelance writing. However, this is relative. It is more of practical experience and development of the expertise that determines your qualification. You may hear some people say qualification does not matter, in this sense, if you are not qualified but you have the necessary knowledge, a little training can be enough to get you going.
On the contrary, thinking that one is qualified for freelance writing, just because they hold a degree in related field may mean having the wrong perception of what you are getting into.
Getting started
We have focused on what a journal can do for you and why you might need to have one. The question that remains unanswered are how one starts on the whole issue of writing on a daily or regular basis.
It is not a taunting task as it may sound; it all starts from the simple bits, sinking deeper into the more detailed aspects. Look at it this way, would it not be easier if you took only a little time out of your busy schedule and slotted in some writing time, for the purpose of jotting down some thoughts, feelings, or just an observation you made sometime before.
You can also start over with the things that you often do, usually daily. These can simply be your hobbies, sporting, or even a vacation. When you are used to the trend, you can now get deeper to complex events, by going a step further and noting issues that are more diverse.
It is vital to document an event when it is still not forgotten and has an effect on your mind and to your emotions, at such a time you will have an interest in noting it down. This will be different from writing about something, which is long gone since you may not find interest in it as before, and writing about it may even be boring in some cases.
When you write down events on your journal while they are still of interest to you, your writing will also be interesting. Once you get started with journal writing, it will immediately become among the things that you relish most in any given day.
About the Author:
Williams Dave is a senior freelance academic writing supervisor at customwritings.com – the online community of freelance academic writers from all over the world. Dave has in-depth knowledge and experience in the academic writing industry.
Are you a new journaler? Or perhaps you're an experienced journaler who wishes to restart a daily journaling practice? Our Build a Lasting Journaling Practice in 14 Days self-paced journaling course can show you how.
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