Journaling is one of the most powerful tools for self-reflection and self-expression out there. A journal is like having a friend that you can share everything with, and they’ll never tell! But sometimes you may find yourself trying to convince your journal that you’re cool, because your journal might, for some reason, be judging you for your boring anecdotes and tired takes on pop culture. Unfortunately, this may take quite a bit from the authentic self-expression people try to get with journals, so here are a few tricks on how to journal without getting caught up in trying to convince it you’re chill.
Convince your journal that you were cool once, but it got tiring, and now you’re laying low.
One way to stave off judgment from the inanimate object you feel is judging you is to create a narrative that you were once very cool, but that lifestyle lost its appeal and wasn’t right for you. Explain that you are so tired of all the crazy nights, impulse decisions, and erratic behaviors from when you were a cool girl, and now you’re taking some time to rediscover the simple things in life. Then you can get on with journaling about how your indoor garden is doing without feeling all judged. Your journal will totally get it.
Practice radical honesty.
Your journal is the one place where no human will witness what you are saying, and being honest about your life is the only way to truly self-reflect. So tell your journal how you chewed half a pack of gum today because you were bored, how you are conflicted about whether you should buy more candles, or how you really need to stop ordering food so much. While your journal may secretly find you boring, it will never tell (it can’t), but you’ll be keeping a promise to yourself and having some great self-reflection about how not that much seems to be going on in your life right now.
Realize your journal is pretty mediocre itself.
One way to release yourself from the pressure to seem cool to your journal is to realize your journal has no business judging you. What does it even do all day? Sit there, waiting for you to feed it gossip and juicy happenings from your life? Anyway, it looks like it was on sale at Target. That’s pathetic, and it should be embarrassed. Don’t worry about seeming cool to this loser; you’re all it’s got.
We hope following these tips have helped you create an emotionally safe place for you to express your feelings without feeling you have to write about how cool you are all the time. You know you can hang. Now about what your Notes App thinks of you – you may just have to accept you’ll be uncool forever to that one.
