A habit you’re grateful you developed.

When I first saw this on the list, I thought “oh dear… I don’t really have any habits, at least not good ones.” And as I sat looking at the flashing cursor trying to think of a habit I have (that wasn’t doing my make-up or skin care routine) and it hit me…

In 2020, as part of my “Stop myself from going cRaZY“, I started to journal. At first, I wondered what I would write about and there were days where I wrote about the weather. But soon, I was filling a page. Then pages, soon, I’d filled a notebook.

It has now been five years and I just started a new notebook. On average, I fill one 200 page notebook every six months. I have no idea how many notebooks I’ve written in. They are kind of scattered all over. Some years, the early years, there are more books, I probably write a little less now.

There have been times, especially of late, that I haven’t really wanted to write about what is going on. Not that I reread past journals, but I maybe do not want to remember with great clarity the events or emotions I have felt. Troubling times don’t necessarily need to be voiced, which is how I have sometimes used the journal.

I used to write in it every morning, with my coffee. Sitting at the kitchen table while the boys had breakfast or my husband walked the dog. I tend to write more now later at night, at the end of the day. Replaying the day’s events or working through my emotions.

The benefit of the paper journal is it travels. It has gone everywhere with me, across Canada on my research trip to Manitoba and the work we did there, the interesting people we met, the laughter, the “what is said in the rental car, stays in the rental car” pact (which, I didn’t write about what was said, of course, just the pact itself). I wrote about my trip to Europe. I journaled about our ridiculous delays and our impromptu day in Lisbon because of missed flights, I wrote while sitting on our little patio in Portugal, over coffee while my sister-in-law slept. Writing about our adventures sightseeing, and about my worries about the boys at home (they’d had a massive fight the morning I left).

I journal about hating having to cook everyday and my frustration with never knowing what to make! It was an easy enough habit to create and one I have been thankful for having. There have been times where I have poured my heart into those pages because I felt if I didn’t, I would lose my mind.

I am still doing my paper journal along with this digital gratitude journaling. It can be cathartic and freeing. If you’re not one who journals, I would really recommend trying it for thirty days.

Post inspired by 30 Days of Gratitude by Ordinary & Happy