Anddddddd we're back!!! 

(miss part one? check it out here!)

A couple of weeks ago, I talked about why I love journaling so much, and why I think it could change your life. Journaling has seriously been one of the biggest game changers for me over the years, and I love getting to talk about it here on the blog. Today, we're back with Part 2 of this journaling series, to talk about the logistics of it all - how I journal, the different things that made it less daunting for me, and how I finally made journaling a habit. 

Like I mentioned in my last post, I've always loved journaling, but I struggled for a really long time with consistency. I loved to journal, but over and over and over I would find myself slipping and before I knew it, it had been months since I'd last picked up the pen. 

It wasn't until about two years ago that I figured out what I'd been doing wrong and really managed to  put together a system that worked for me. It's obviously going to be different for everyone, but maybe this will help you figure out what will work for you, too. 

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The biggest thing that changed journaling for me was taking the pressure off of myself - and in taking the pressure off, my consistency soared. I'd been putting so many "rules" on myself when it came to journaling - I had to detail each day in the journal (in order), if I missed a day, I had to catch up, each journal had to serve only ONE purpose, etc. I would become so stressed out and overwhelmed trying to keep up with my own rules that I would end up not journaling at all. It was the most terribly Type A thing to do, and losing that mindset was the best thing that I could have possibly done. 

I used to keep two separate journals - a journal detailing daily life, and a prayer journal. I found out that merging the two was the best decision for me, personally. Some days I just write about life, some days I prayer journal, and some entries go back and forth between the two. It made so much more sense to leave myself the flexibility to use the journal for both. If life is a constant conversation with God, why shouldn't journaling be, too?

In loosening up the restrictions that I was placing on myself, I immediately found myself having an easier time journaling because there was no stress associated with it. I was able to just pick up my journal and write about whatever I wanted without worrying if I was doing it "right". I wasn't writing a novel - I was keeping a journal, and once I realized that everything didn't have to be a perfectly sequential story, there was no turning back. If I could offer one piece of advice, that's what it would be - stop putting pressure on yourself, and just write. After all, wouldn't you rather have pages upon pages of memories, even if they are a bit scattered, as opposed to a couple of pages of incomplete "perfect" journal entries?

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A couple of other things that helped me....

// Find the time that works best for you - and make a habit of it

Some people love to journal first thing in the morning. I've found that I sleep better if journaling is the last thing that I do before I go to bed. Maybe you love journaling when you get home from work or school. Whenever your preferred time is, find it - and stick to it. At the end of the day, if you want journaling to be a habit, you have to be willing to make it one. It's not just going to happen instantly. Habits are built upon consistency. At first, it can be difficult to remember to do it every day. Eventually, though, it does in fact become a habit. For years, I struggled with making a habit of journaling on a daily basis. (The amount of times that I mention wanting to journal more as a goal in old blog posts is a testament to that!) It got to the point, however, where I just had to make the conscious decision that I wanted to make this a priority in my life. Now, it feels wrong if I go to bed without journaling.

Of course, I will caveat this by saying that the world isn't going to end if you miss a day. We're taking the pressure off here, remember? I'm not saying that you have to have a military grade schedule in order to become consistent with journaling. You don't have to do it every day. But routine builds consistency, which builds habit. Remember that. 

// Use the time you have

Let's be honest here. Life gets crazy, and we don't always have the time to write everything that we want to. BUT, if you're like me, you don't want to forget everything. I've found that when I hit points like this, doing one of two things really helps me. 

One option is to write out a quick list within the journal of things that you want to flesh out in full detail at a later point. Then, as you have time, you can go back to the list and write it up later. Again, your journal isn't about perfection, so it's okay if things get out of chronological order. (my perfectionist friends, I know, breathe. It's gonna be okay.) Your future self will just be glad that it's there.

The second option if you've had a really crazy day is to just quickly bullet point your journal entry instead of writing it down in paragraph form. That way, you're writing down the same information, but it gets done a lot more quickly because you're cutting out all of the excess words. Yay for efficiency, am I right?

// Enjoy it

At the end of the day, what's the point in journaling if you don't enjoy it? Journaling should be something you look forward to - not a chore. If writing isn't your thing, maybe you'd like keeping an art journal instead. Maybe you don't want to write pages and pages, but you like to do a quick daily recap at the end of your daily page on your planner or bullet journal. Lose the stress, and just journal for yourself. You're not perfect, and your journal doesn't need to be either. Just write!

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So, are you ready to give journaling a shot? Hopefully now you feel a little less intimidated, and are ready to give it a go. Have you been journaling lately? What's the hardest part of journaling for you? What's your FAVORITE part? Let me know!

Why I Love Journaling + Why It Could Be The Game-Changer You Need

I've been scribbling words onto the page for as long as I can remember. When I was little, I had a thousand different diaries, the proof of which can now be found on the top shelf of my closet in the form of around 45 notebooks, ranging from spiral bounds to dollar store notebooks covered with Disney princesses. Most of them are sporadically filled up, the pages of my life littered with sketches of flowers and games of hangman and tic-tac-toe. As I got older, the scribbled doodles became more infrequent as the pages became filled with stories about school, my friends, ideas, worries, and everything in between. Every now and then, I grab the stepladder and haul the piles of pages down from that high up shelf and sift through them, laughing and cringing and remembering. 

I don't know if it's always been the writer in me or the memory hoarder (or perhaps a little of both), but I have forever been a firm believer in the importance of journaling. The day that I graduated high school, I had to give a speech. That speech is a whole story in and of itself that I really ought to share sometime, but I ended up choosing three things that I would encourage my friends still in high school to do. One of those things was to keep a journal. I still stand by that, perhaps even more strongly than I did then. 

So, why is journaling so important? Why bother?

There are a thousand reasons that I'm a firm believer in the power + value of journaling. (If you ever talk to me about this in person, beware - I may never stop talking.) But let's get to the root of it.

1. Journaling is the best way of storing memories.

There's no better way to remember a season of your life than being able to pick up an old journal and read through exactly what you were thinking and feeling. Tiny details that you don't think anything about now will be so much fun to look back on, and it's fascinating to see how you've grown and changed as a person in ways that you're unable to really see without actually getting back into how your brain was working a few years back. I can't tell you how many times I've been looking through an old journal and been so happy to find stories of various adventures I had that I'd completely forgotten about. It's such a special way to store memories to last for a lifetime. I'm so glad to have so many of my crazy high school adventures written down, so that I'll be able to look back on them. It's also a way to see how many prayers have been answered, and how much I've grown and how much the Lord has done in my life over the years. Being able to look through a journal and see how God wove everything together is also singlehandedly one of the most incredible things in the world. You literally get to read your story, and as someone who's madly in love with words, I think that's pretty amazing. 

2. It's such a stress reliever. 

I don't know about you, but I keep a lot of stuff in my head. My brain is constantly going a thousand miles a minute, and after a while, it can get exhausting. Especially when I have something stressing me out - my brain never shuts off. It just spins and spins and spins until I am so beyond drained. What I love about journaling is that it gets the stress and overwhelm out of my head and onto the page, helping me to breathe a little bit easier. It's truly one of the best forms of self-care, and one that I've found I'm able to do without feeling guilty for "wasting time". (Not that self-care is a waste of time, but my perfectionistic, Type A brain doesn't always want to believe that.) It's not that it gets rid of the problem, but there's something about tangibly writing your thoughts down that can help you to stop obsessing. I struggle a lot with anxiety, and when I'm not in the greatest place mentally, journaling can really help to calm down my thoughts. And not to sound like a cranky adult, but there really is something about stepping away from screens and doing something more tangible that helps in ways I can't describe.

3. With that being said...it can help you work out your issues.

A lot of times, things look a lot clearer when they're sitting in front of you as opposed to tangled up in the web of "what ifs" that your brain tries to feed you. There have been a multitude of times where I've been stressing and stressing and stressing only to start to journal my thoughts and realize halfway through that the answer has been in front of me the entire time. When you take the time to take a step back and pick up the pen, it's amazing how much clarity you can gain. 

4. Journaling can help you to understand yourself better.

In writing down your thoughts, you gain the ability to better understand yourself. Maybe it's just the self-reflective introvert in me, but I've found that journaling has helped me to understand different aspects of myself - my stressors, why I react the way that I do to certain things, what's actually upsetting me about a situation, where my priorities lie, what really brings me joy. Journaling helps me to slow down and process, which is important.

5. The freedom is infinite.

You can journal however you'd like. Want to write down a detailed description of your day? Do it. Need a space to vent? Go for it. Exhausted, but want to remember something? Jot down some bullet notes and head to bed. Need to process something? Explain it in the journal. Can't get into a consistent rhythm of praying regularly? Prayer journaling might be just what you need. Your journal can be whatever you want it to be. It's completely up to you and your needs. 

But, Grace Anne, I've tried. I half eight half-filled journals on the shelf that I know I'm never going to finish. I try and try and try, but it's never worked for me. 

Believe me, that was the story of my life for the longest time. I wanted to keep a journal, and I would sporadically go through periods where I would do great with keeping up with it, but it really wasn't until about two years ago that I really figured out how to be consistent and what had been messing me up for so long. Since then, however, I haven't looked back, and I promise you won't either. 

Journaling has singlehandedly been one of the biggest game-changers for me, and I want to show you how it can rock your world, too. SO, if you're ready to dive into the world of journaling with me, stay tuned for part 2 of this post, where I show you just how easy journaling can be, and how to make it work for you. Trust me - you're going to want to give it a shot. 

So tell me - where do you stand with journaling? Are you as big of a fan of it as I am? Been wanting to give it another shot? Never journaled before? Stay tuned, my friends, and let me know your thoughts in the comments! (Like this post? Check out part two!)

January/February Favorites!

HELLO BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!!! Aren't favorites posts fun? I love them. The last few months I haven't managed to get one up, though, so I'm making this lovely gigantic one with January AND February favorites.

Creating this post may have partially involved repeatedly asking my mom and my sisters, "What have I been obsessed with lately????" Because I have a terrible memory and literally can't even remember my own life. Go me.

Beauty:

I needed to try a new foundation, and ended up liking the Maybelline Fit Me in Porcelain. I had to switch because the Ivory TruBlend was too dark...I'm so pale, guys. It's terrible. Sometimes I feel like Porcelain doesn't even match. I really need to get a tan this summer. It's bad. 

I got this eyeshadow trio in a Target beauty box, and I really like it! I'd never tried anything by Pacifica, but I love the quality. It has nice pigmentation, and it doesn't crease, either. Plus, THE PACKAGING IS SO PRETTYYYYY. Gah. Love.

I'd been wanting to try EOS in stick form for forever. I got the vanilla one for Christmas, and the mint for Valentine's Day, and I love them both. The consistency is great, and it's so much easier than the big sphere that's the typical EOS shape.

This Bed Head curling wand was a Christmas present, and since then I haven't used my old curling wand once. It gives your hair these absolutely GORGEOUS, natural curls, and they really hold, too. Plus, the glove that comes with it works wonderfully. Can't recommend this wand enough.

Books:

These are basically books & journals all wrapped up into one and I'm obsessed. I'm also quite proud because I've kept up with them quite well. And if you know me, I'm terrible at keeping up with ANYTHING.

I read The Old Man and the Sea for school, and I really enjoyed it. Well, I enjoyed reading it the first time, anyways. Then I had to write this essay on the symbolism within the book and started to lose my mind. But the book itself was good!

Randomness:

The obsession is hardcore, guys. I'm almost finished with season 1- it's so great!

One of my friends managed to get almost the entire high school at our co-op obsessed with Color Switch. Myself included. It's sooo addicting. I've kind of gotten sick of it now, but it was a definite obsession for a while. 

I've absolutely loved watching this continuation to Full House. It's so cute, and since I grew up on Full House, seeing everyone grow up has been super fun. 

It's taking over my life, guys. I'm involved with helping with a production of the show coming up soon, and I could not be more excited. It seems like lately all I ever am thinking about is Aladdin! 

Music:

SURPRISE! The musical that has taken over my life. I literally cannot say enough good things about this show and its brilliance. It is honestly a piece of art.

Songs I've Been Loving:

Seasons of Love- Rent
Happy/Sad- The Addams Family
Kiss Me- Ed Sheeran
21 Guns- American Idiot (Original Broadway Cast)
When We Were Young- Adele
Safer- First Date
The Hanging Tree- Mockingjay
Homeless- Ed Sheeran

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What have you been loving lately?

Fun Journaling Ideas for 2016!!

As y'all might know, I'm a huge fan of journaling. I absolutely love to write, and recording life is just such a special thing. There's nothing that I love more than looking back through old journals and remembering tons of fun times, inside jokes, remembering emotions and people and experiences. But I'm the first to admit that I'm terrible at actually keeping a journal. I love it, but gosh, I'm so bad at it! I always forget to write, or I procrastinate doing it, and then I'm so long winded that it takes forever. It's so frustrating! I really hate it because journaling is something that I really care about, but I just don't do it enough.

For Christmas this year, I got not one but TWO awesome journals. I was so excited to receive them, and I've been having a great time filling them in.

This is the Q&A a Day 5-Year Journal. Each day has a prompt, and four lines to write your answer. You continue the journal for five years, and you get to see how your answers evolve each year! I think that it's such a cool journal, and it literally takes five minutes of your day. I've had so much fun answering each day's question, and it's going to be so much fun to look back over it in a few years! It's such a great way to record life.

I absolutely love this journal! You only have to do it once a week, and the prompts are really great. Plus, they're LISTS!! I adore making lists. I'm kind of an OCD list maker, I make lists about everything. So a journal full of lists is absolutely perfect for me. Plus, can we just appreciate how adorable this book is? I love the cover, and each page has cute little sketches on it. Can't get enough of this book!

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These journals are both so much fun! I definitely recommend them to use this year. Do you have any fun journaling ideas? Leave them in the comments below!!