Journaling Guide Step One: How to Pick Your Journal
Picking your journal can be as thoughtful and time consuming, as important, as you want it to be. I am not faithful to one kind or one brand, I often switch it up. If you are the type of person who has found yourself perusing the aisles of office supplies, paper, pens, stickynotes, list-making notes, cork boards and more with a bit of wide eye wonderment and love, then you understand how I can have a crate full of empty journals all patiently waiting to be written in.
I have tried out:
The basic journal. Cheap, fairly thin, no design to distract, thin lines on the pages and thin bendable covers. Kind of a Moleskin knockoff.
2. The “tomb” journal. Three inches thick, often leather or faux leather bound, with a ribbon page marker, nicely bound and could kill a person if you threw it at their head, jus’ sayin’. (My current, about to me recent past journal is one such).
3. The Moleskin journal. Well it’s a Moleskin and that’s reason enough. Simple and classic, with an envelope on the back cover for storage of small scraps of paper or photos, beautifully bound, and somewhat expensive.
4. The blank journal. Unlined pages.
5. The inspirational cover journal. Beautiful art or color on the cover usually with an inspiring saying or quote.
6. The spiral bound journal. Usually thicker covers front and back with a large spiral wire binding.
7. The composition notebook journal. Yes, that same composition notebook from high school, or at least when I went to high school. They are cheap and capable, with tough cardboard covers, can be decorated, larger spaced lines, thin paper.
You have lots of options and it can be overwhelming, (says the girl who goes glassy eyed in front of a shelf of journals at Staples, or Micheals, or Target) or it’s really not.
Just in case you need a little guidance from someone who has used over 50 journals in her life here are a few questions to ask yourself to walk you through the decision quickly:
Do you like pretty things?
If yes proceed directly to Martha Stewart and buy one of her journals. I have used a gold journal of hers and loved the rich look of it, and I have pretty printed fabric bound one waiting for me when I am ready.
Do you get frustrated by hand placement, the feeling of where your hand is on the paper or “falling off the edge” of a pad of paper, when you hand write?
Then avoid the spiral bound and tomb sized journals even if they look cool. The spiral bound will lie fully flat, however the binding will get in the way as you write. I advise you to test out how well the journal will lie flat on its own first. If you love it and it doesn’t really lie flat you can “break the binding” a bit after purchase by opening it to it’s extreme back and forth a couple of times. I have also seen a few journals at Barnes and Nobel bound with a “lie flat” binding you can tell by it’s supremely flat edge and glued in sections type of appearance. The composition notebook also lies flat when open.
Are you on a budget and like to make your journal more your “own”?
The composition notebook is the way to go. At just under three bucks, it’s a cheap way to test out this journaling thing and you can decorate it as you go with stickers and pieces of memorabilia that inspire you along the way.
Do you like to keep things fairly orderly or do you like to draw and color and doodle?
If I don’t have lines to keep my writing in, well in line, then I tend to scrawl like a an elementary schooler trying to write on a chalkboard as the letters angle up and away. It really bugs me. So I like a lined journal and I don’t mind drawing a mind-map or taping things in over the lines at all. If this does not appeal to you - get a blank journal for sure.
Do you need to feel motivation every time you see it? Get a journal with an inspirational cover, or one that makes you smile when you see it, anything to help reinforce the good vibes and habit shaping as you sit down to spill your guts on the page. 😊 Just kidding, you never have to spill your guts if you don’t want to.
Ok I think that about covers the nuts and bolts of starting to cultivate your habit of journaling Step One - Picking Your Journal. I feel like this could become a really great flow chart. What do you think? What did I miss? Follow me on IG and shoot me a DM to let me know how your journal picking goes, I’d love to hear! Really!
