Journaling

I have a confession to make: I am addicted to journals. That's right. I said it. I'm a helpless journal junkie. I cannot step into a Barnes & Noble or Hastings without heading straight for the journal section. You would think, being a journal junkie, that I would've filled volumes of them, by now. Yet, the sad truth of the matter is that most of them are still just as empty as they were the day that I bought them. So, what's the obsession?

Here is how the typical journal-buying scenario plays out: I see this awesome journal that is absolutely perfect in every way -- it's unique, the cover is exquisite, the page lines are perfectly spaced -- and it's like falling in love. I have to have this journal. So, I collect my prize at the cash register, get it home, and place it somewhere special. Occasionally, I'll get it out to gaze at it and wonder what great writing masterpiece will grace its pages because, of course, a journal like this one is special and requires that only the best writing be scrawled across its pages, lest it be desecrated. (Oh yeah. It's that serious. lol) So, there it will sit -- unused -- because, of course, I never can come up with something good enough to write in it. Eventually, it becomes covered in dust and I forget all about it by the next time that I wind up in the journal section of a bookstore, fawning over my latest "perfect" journal. It's a never-ending cycle, with me. I think, when I die, everyone will wonder what the significance is to all of the beautiful, empty books hidden in special nooks throughout my house.

When I actually do get the courage to write in a journal, I find that journaling presents an emotional safe-haven as well as a judgment-free zone in which to practice and improve upon the art of writing. Not only do I chronicle important events in my life, but I'm also able to do what I love and to play around with it, in a medium that I know that no one has access to but me.

After speaking to several others about their journaling habits, I've learned something interesting. People have very different ways of journaling. For instance, I, personally, tend to journal on occasion, when the mood strikes, and I do it all free-form. A friend of mine told me that he writes his journals as though they're a story, with him as the first person character. Still another friend of mine told me that she writes her journal entries as though they were letters to a friend. It seems that everyone has a unique way of expressing themselves through journal-writing and that's the sheer beauty of it. There are no rights or wrongs.

If you keep a journal, I'm sure that I don't have to sell you on the benefits of it. If, on the other hand, you've never kept a journal, I highly recommend it. If, by chance, you happen to go shopping for a journal and you see a girl standing there, fawning over the empty little mini-books with a look of obsession in her eyes, back away slowly. Just let her pick the one that she wants and she'll be on her way.