The first entry in your new journal can be the most intimidating. Who is your audience? Where do you start? What do you write about? This post works to answer some of those big questions for you so you can get started on what’s important: journaling.
Who is your audience?
As I have said before, you are writing for yourself. Your journal is supposed to be a judgment free zone where you can express whatever you want without the fear of anyone else seeing it. Why then would I bring up audience? Because, while you are writing for yourself, you might want to think about the purpose of your journal.
If you use your journal as a place to record memories to look back upon, Future-You is actually your audience. In that sort of journal, you might want to make sure your entries have a little context to them rather than jumping right into current content. Future-You may not remember that you and your best friend were fighting for three days straight and that’s why you were at brunch with your awkward coworker instead. Save yourself the confusion and add context.
On the other hand, if you are just journaling for therapeutic means and have an intention to burn said journal after its completion (or, you know, never look at it again), then adding context might not be as significant as just getting down your thoughts.
Writing that first entry:
Option I: Start writing.
Just get to writing about what is on your mind right now. What problems have been trying to work themselves out in your mind? How was your day? What are you stressing about?
Option II: All about me!
Especially if you are writing to preserve memories, adding a section about yourself at the beginning of your journal can help give some context to your following entries. Here are some questions you might want to answer in a section like this:
Do these questions tickle your fancy? A quick search online will lead you to several other surveys and questions that you can cut & paste into your journal (or just answer at random). If you are using paper or a notebook, you might even want to do a sort of adaptation of this entry each time you start a new journal.
Also, it is a good idea to add a picture of what you look like during this period of your life just to put a face to the writer. Remember, you’ll change a lot over the years and pictures can be a fun way to record that progress.
Option III: All pictures.
Like I said before, pictures are a good way to show memories. If possible, add captions to your photos to provide a little bit of context/story to your photos and your well on your way to a fun new journal.
Option IV: Looking forward.
Don’t want to dwell on the past? Spend your first entry looking forward! Even if it’s not January, you can create resolutions for yourself of what you want to accomplish in whatever amount of time. This could be especially helpful if you intend to use your journal to record your progress towards your goals.
Regardless of how you start your journal (or if you’ve already started –go you!), the most important part of journaling is that you keep journaling. You don’t have to include everything about you in one entry. In fact, that would be tedious on you as a writer or even Future-You as a reader. Don’t wear yourself out. Write what you can handle. Some entries might be long and others might not be more than a paragraph or a photo. That’s fine. Just keep journaling.
Next up in journaling: Journaling Prompts! (To get you through the days where inspiration might be hiding.)
Let’s hear from you!
What do you like to include in a first journal entry?
