I started journaling consistently (for me!) just over a year ago. We all know in theory how mentally beneficial it is but getting started is an absolute nightmare. Looking back at my Pinterest boards it’s easy to see why it took me so long. There seems to be so much to think about and plan. It constantly stopped me in my tracks.

Endless posts and articles on themes, layouts, type of journal. Journals for morning pages and meditations, then art journals, bullet journals, Legacy journals and Legend Planners…I never got properly started because I got too hung up on the details and superficial aesthetics.

If that sounds familiar, here is how I stopped all that overthinking and got started.

I just bought one journal for everything.

Super easy. One book, start writing, the patterns and themes will make themselves known as you go. So what if it doesn’t look structured, planned, bullet pointed, and beautifully written. You might regret not having a consistent layout from beginning to end. You might regret shoving your garden diary in with inspirational quotes, and the notes on that silly thing that happened at work don’t really fit in with the Pilates plan you found that looked doable, however…you will certainly and more deeply regret not having any of things written down somewhere. Anywhere.

Now I’ve started journaling I do really regret not having lots of my silly thoughts strewn across various books. I do have several years of handbag sized notebooks though. They consist of hundreds of shopping lists, ideas for work/presents/parties/craft projects. Dates of appointments and who I’m meeting up with and when. In one I have a rough outline of the speech I gave at my sisters wedding and I’d written down some words that one of her oldest friends wanted relaying because she couldn’t make the wedding. Imagine if I had more in those books. More snippets of conversations and memories.

My one journal has a bit of everything. It’s part diary, part memories, mixed in with quotes and doodles. Some of it is written out nicely and then the next page is a scribbled mess. There’s drawings, and photos, and washi tape (and tea stains!). After this first year I thought I would get other journals and maybe theme them a bit but to be honest I’m quite enjoying the messiness of it. I know I will do that at some point. I’d like a garden diary with cute little watercolour sketches and a legacy journal with my (much) improved handwriting. But for now consistent and messy is more than good enough!