Recently, I found a journal I kept in 2017. It’s a small hand-held journal, a little longer than a wallet, with a gold-leaf cover. While the cover is flaking a bit from wear, the insights inside the journal are vibrant and never fail to bring a smile to my face. The year 2017 is on the center of the front cover in a space-agey font.

Each day, in blocks about a third of each page and five or six lines each, I’d noted events I had long forgotten and, but for the journal, would never have remembered—from little things my nieces said as very small children to favorite quotes that boosted my day to classes I taught, friends’ milestones, and more.

For many years after 2017, I didn’t journal regularly, save for 2024, where I kept a drawing/doodling journal every day that helped me flex and grow my sketching muscles. I missed reflecting in a few words to a paragraph each day, and I wanted to get that feeling again of writing down for savoring later—whether that’s six weeks, six months, or sixteen years from now.

So, in May, I purchased a 3-year journal with spots to write each day. You’d think I would have dived in upon getting the robin’s egg blue, inviting new journal, but… nope. In the midst of preparing my latest fun book for publication and marketing, life got lifey and my new journal, alas, sat on a TBR pile until mid-August, when I cracked the spine and got started at last.

All’s well that ends well: it’s been a little over two months now, and I’m starting to notice a delightful thing happening that I’d forgotten from my 2017 daily writing: earlier and earlier in the day I notice little things I want to write for each day. Sometimes it’s an observation; today it was a quote and a description of what I doodled this afternoon. I’m actively and rather easily finding so many great options for tiny morsels to uplift and entertain me in the near future. One of my favorite parts of writing a journal is that it trains the mind, eyes, and heart to notice more openly. It also helps me to live more in the moment in the midst of often-rushed days.

Journaling is a slowing and an appreciating way of being. It’s also fun and individualistic. It can be personal or shared with others. You can make the entries as short or long as you’d like. You can say as much or as little as you feel comfortable sharing. You can use all words, doodles and words/captions, a mixture of both, or even collage.

The sky’s the limit. What matters is setting aside a little time, a little calm and focus, and an

optimism that each day carries something well worth sharing with yourself—both now and in the future.

To find even more encouragement and joy in the journaling process, I heartily recommend Mari

McCarthy’s Journaling Power: How to Create the Happy, Healthy Life YOU Want to Live. It’s currently celebrating its 10-year publication anniversary and is packed with advice, tips, and wisdom to make your journaling journey an enriching and meaningful process for many years to come.

Learn more about Mari and her wonderful books at: clickety-click.