I have been writing regularly since I was about 13 or 14 years old. 
I remember how it started. I had been told by an authority figure – a teacher or a therapist – I can’t remember which one — that I needed to start writing every day. They were trying to force me to write about my feelings so I would deal with my mom’s passing because I wasn’t dealing with it at all. I was just rehearsing all the time.
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In a lot of ways it was bad that they were trying to force me to write because, as with anything, when you force a kid or actually an adult as well, to try to do something – the first thing you want to do is be defensive and not do it at all.
But what it did do, is exposed me to a possibility. And that possibility to get up every day and write in a journal – has been my saving grace.
Now I’m not an advocate of forcing people to write every day, or to do whatever it is I think works for me…
I do think being able to take time out for yourself every day is really important – especially in this world and in this time where everything seems so stressful. We have so much technology around us — and you know — I always kind of giggle at people who pay so much money to do yoga, and meditate — we’re actually paying for quiet and silent sometimes.
So, for me at 4:30 or 5 O’clock in the morning, I’m having my coffee and I have my sketchbook out and I hand write because that’s what I do. That’s how I start my day and I rarely ever missed that no matter what. Even if I’m traveling. I tend to like to “hand” write because I like the texture from the paper and a pen.
I have a kind-of system that every year around my birthday I shred all of those sketchbooks or documents or whatever I’ve been using. That’s just been something I’ve always done.
I think it’s harder for me to write on a computer in a “journal-entry” kind-of form. If I switch gears in my head and call it creative writing then I’m able to do it a little bit better. But it’s not the same thing. It’s not the same therapeutic kind-of process that I do every morning.
The reason why I shred journals every year is because sometimes when I sit back and read them – they are just horrendous, or bad, or just they’re kind-of gibberish. And there just kind of process…
Sometimes I’m working through problems, or anger things, or happy things that I never would want anyone to know about. And there is also that — there is the ability, and the want to make sure that it’s always private. It’s just for me. It’s not for anybody else unless I choose to share certain things about it – and I have in the past, taking pictures of my journal entries at times and posted up as a journal. You can find them here in my blog post – but that also takes a lot of work too because I have to go back and reread it and I’m very careful about how I’m writing it. Yeah it’s just a different mindset.
As always, I just like to share these things. I would love to hear how you go about giving yourself time every day — that would be fantastic to know – how some people make sure they find time throughout the day to meditate, to think, to create or to just “BE”.
As always, I hope you have a sweet day. I appreciate you stopping by, and I’ll be back again real soon.
Bye,
Carmen
