When Journaling Feels like Homework, Dreaded and Put Off to the Last Minute

Urghhhh.  I pulled my journal from the stack of books next to my bed.  I had put off journaling all day. If I wanted to honor my commitment to write every day, I needed to make the time now before I fell asleep.  Why was I finding a consistent journaling practice  a challenge? Why did I almost dread picking up the pencil and writing? I wanted to journal so why was it hard?

That was the Andrea mindset circa 2010.

Even when I had intellectually known the benefits of journaling, I was unable to embrace the experience. I read all sorts of articles on best practices for journaling. And I tried several of the suggestions put forth by the authors.  I wrote in the morning. I wrote before going to sleep. I even penciled it as an appointment in my daily planner. Nothing seemed to release me from my mentality that jouraling was an effort. Drudgery. Work.

Then I found a shift in mindset that was successful.

At the time of my discovery, I was a college adjunct professor of Composition 101. I assigned a lot of papers. With due dates. And I expected the assignments to be completed.  On time. ‘Work hard. Get it done,’ was my mantra to the students.

What I hadn’t realized was that I brought my  ‘no-nonsense, get down to brass tacks’ teacher attitude to my personal journaling. My journaling felt like homework, dreaded and put off to the last minute.  Several times, I had procrastinated the perceived assignment and put off journaling until I was in bed. More than once, I would drift off to sleep mid-sentence and wake up with the journal as my pillow.  

What helped me most was softening my attitude.  I began thinking of journaling as less of writing a laborious research  paper and more of justifying quite reflective ‘me time.’ I used this form of “me time’ as a  healthy break from the demands of life to sit with myself and enjoy my own company.

And as a bonus,  I found this ‘me time’ journaling gave way to curiosity to learn about myself, this body I was with 24/7/365, this mind that could not be set aside.  The more I wrote the more I found that  I liked me. And I wanted to hang out with me. Via journaling.  

What has been your writing experience, what tips and techniques do you use to help you write?

Love,

Andrea

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