Differently
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Differently
What to Do with Old Journals (Listener Question)
A deep change in the way we live requires a deep change in the way that we think. This principle lies at the heart of today's episode addressing a thought-provoking listener question: what do we do with all those completed journals?
The question reveals a common barrier many face when trying to establish a journaling practice. Privacy concerns, clutter anxiety, and uncertainty about the value of keeping old writings can actually prevent us from picking up the pen in the first place. But addressing these barriers head-on is essential not just for journaling, but for any meaningful change we want to create in our lives.
Today we explore strategies for overcoming the barriers to writing AND creative ideas for managing the clutter and privacy of old journals.
If you struggle to journal on your own, check out our free monthly guided classes where we can write together.
Enjoy!
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Thank you for listening!
A deep change in the way that we live requires a deep change in the way that we think. I'm Carla Reeves, and this is Differently. Happy Thursday. I'm so glad that you've decided to listen today. I want to share with you a question I received from a listener and that's what we're going to do today. I love hearing from you. So if you don't know that, there is a button when you're clicked on the actual episode, it says there's a little button that says send Carla a message. I would love to hear from you send me your questions, that you have ideas, if there's something you'd love to hear me talk about. Maybe you have a comment to an episode. Any and all of it is so good and makes me so very happy. So the question that I've received is this. It said Hi, carla, I've dabbled with journaling on and off for the last 10 years, but I haven't done it for a while.
Speaker 1:One thing that stops me is what do I do with all those completed journals? Are they useful to keep and read later? I'm trying to get rid of clutter. If I don't keep them, I'll have a stack of shredding to do, because I'm not just going to put those in the recycling bin with all that personal information? What do people do with used journals? So our short episode today is going to address that very question what do we do with old journals and how can we address the barriers like this that show up for all of us, that keep us from doing something that literally has potential to change our life in the very best way? So if you want to create a journaling rhythm in your life, which is it's so often I hear from people like I've dabbled in journaling all these years or I need to get back to it or shoot, I've forgotten and I haven't journaled in a while, and I know how helpful it is. I hear these things a lot. We have to be willing to address the things that get in the way, the little and big things that come in the way, the reasons, the thoughts, the excuses, the wondering like well, what do I do with them and how do I maintain that personal information without somebody finding it? And on and on and on.
Speaker 1:This principle of addressing the barriers is so important and true for all change. It's a principle that threads through everything we do here at the differently company, because so often we just try to do the thing. You know we want to journal and we want to reach our goal, but if we don't address the things that are getting in the way, they're going to keep popping up. So first, high five to you for the journaling you've done so far. The fact that you've dabbled in journaling tells me that there's an interest here and that there's something in it for you. It also makes me curious, and I just want to put this question out to you is what, what else, keeps you from going all in? Is there anything else? Because if we can address these barriers, then all you have left is your desire to write and the rewards that await you.
Speaker 1:I think it's important to have a purpose for your writing. Having a vision for your journaling really helps cut through all the noise and the stops that we feel, because if we're doing something for a purpose, we'll make sacrifices, we'll prioritize it and we're more apt to show up. Without a purpose, it feels like another thing on our to-do list or can just feel like drudgery. When I was a new mom is when I started journaling and I felt God tell me to start writing. My purpose for writing was to figure out how to be a happy mom, because I felt like that would be one of the greatest gifts I could give my children. That's why I showed up to do the writing. It wasn't because I wanted to write or I wanted to journal. I wanted to be a better mom. And so what is your purpose? What is your purpose for writing? And if you don't know, start asking like what could it be? Like, what would have you show up to do the hard part, which is showing up in writing? So when you're grappling between your desire to journal and fears about cluttering or privacy, having this clear mission is going to help you make a system that works.
Speaker 1:My early journaling mission was simple to be a better mom. That purpose was bigger than my fears of someone finding my journals or the inconvenience of where was I going to store them or how was I going to deal with clutter. The purpose was big enough that I figured out how to manage the other things, and you're going to be able to do that too what to do with old journals. I want to just kind of stir your thinking on some of this, and these are simple, but remember there's no right answer. I want you to look for what makes sense for you and your life and your commitments to having a clutter-free environment and so on and so forth. Here's some ideas of what people do with old journals. One you can keep them. You could store them in boxes and label them by year and keep them in a closet or in your garage or under your bed.
Speaker 1:I was doing that for a lot of years and it just got overwhelming and there were too many. And I started for a lot of years and it just got overwhelming and there were too many and I started to feel afraid of, like you know, what were my kids gonna find later? Or do I want my kids to read my journals? Like that's something I had to really think about, and do I want to keep all of them? Because I I have boys. I don't think they're really going to care about my journals, honestly, and I don't know that anybody will. But I also couldn't get rid of all of them. So I went through all of those journals a lot of years ago and we had a bonfire in the backyard one night and we I just threw a lot of them in there and released them and got rid of them, and that felt really good. And the way that I went through them, I just kind of picked each one of them up and kind of flipped my fingers through it to see what season of life was this and is this important? Do I want to keep it? And just kind of trusted myself to know and if I didn't know or I didn't feel like I could get rid of it, I kept it. And then I did that. I've done that probably three times in the last 20 years just pared down and pared down and got rid of more, and I would say I have a you know a good stack of them now that I have held on to because they meant something to me.
Speaker 1:Another thing you could do is you could digitize some of them. If you wanted to take photos of maybe there's important pages, but you don't need the whole thing. You could digitize some of that. You could also digitize your journaling, in the sense that you could start doing more writing online instead of in a paper notebook. I do a blend of both. They both fill a different need. Like in the morning, during my morning routine, I like writing in a paper journal, but during the day or at night, I often journal online. So you could do a little bit of both to cut down on some of that paper clutter.
Speaker 1:We talked about selectively keeping things that are meaningful. We talked about releasing them or letting them go or shredding or burning them. Whatever feels right to you. You could definitely shred them. If privacy is a concern, you can shred them. The most important thing is that you do whatever you need to do so that you can write and continue writing and use this as a tool in your life, because if you're worried about people finding them and you just hold on to that and then you never do it because you're afraid, the fear is running you. So address the fear, handle it in the way you need to so that you can keep writing, because this is going to benefit your life in ways that you can't even imagine if you start to do this with a little more consistency.
Speaker 1:And then I just want to talk for a minute about keeping old journals. Journals are a record of our life and our journey and our growth. Sometimes reading back can help you see how far you've come, or see a pattern in your life that you're still grappling with. Both are normal and good. For me, mostly my journal is a processing tool more so than a log of my life, and so I don't often need to go back and look at those journals. I've been journaling consistently since 1999, and I have probably 20 journals over that period of time. Different seasons call for more or less writing. Remember that. So some days you might write a page and other days it might just be a sentence or a list. And rereading over time just to reiterate it can support reflection, it can support goal setting, it might spark inspiration for you. When I look through old journals, I often discover forgotten insights or ideas worth revisiting.
Speaker 1:When to let your journals go, it's completely understandable to not want clutter. I don't want clutter in my life either, and so you might consider letting journals go, especially when you've already gotten the lessons they're like weaved into your life and you've gotten what you needed from them. Maybe holding on to those, that old journal, that old energy that's in that journal, doesn't serve your growth and you just feel like it would be better to release that and let that go. That's beautiful. Do that, and then, if the space they take creates more stress than a benefit, that's a great indicator that it's time to figure out a way to remove them from your life. Get rid of them. Trust that. You'll know, and again. There's no right way to do this.
Speaker 1:A couple other creative ideas is I know a lot of times I'll fill all like half fill a journal and then there's kind of wasted pages in there and I hear people say that all the time. Or maybe they started the journal at the beginning of the year and wrote a few pages and then they haven't done anything and it feels weird to go back. Give up the weirdness. And if you want to use the rest of those pages, I often will pick up an old journal and I'll just date it where I am and finish it. You could always label them if you need to. I don't do that, but if you need to label them so that you can go back and reference them, do that. I don't do that, but if you need to label them so that you can go back and reference them, do that. My favorite idea is to mine old journals for creative ideas or content. If you have a business. I do this a lot I will actually use a piece of my journal entry to inspire an email or a podcast, so that can be fun too.
Speaker 1:If you're still listening at listening at this point I have a challenge for you because you're, at a minimum, curious about what journaling can do in your life. So here's my challenge I want you to just sit down for five minutes and write down all the reasons or things that get in your way of writing more consistently. I want you to then go through each one and just challenge each one honestly. Is this real? Is it something you've fabricated to just delay the process of actually doing the writing? Is it something you can address and just manage and handle and remove that from your list and then ask yourself look look at what's left, and I want you to send me a message. Hit that send Carla message button and tell me what's left for you after you manage and address the reasons and things that get in your way.
Speaker 1:My own barriers include, you know, when I bump up against not sitting down to write, are not knowing what to write, maybe not having the time, or feeling like I don't have the time, feeling like I might just write and write and write and there's no point and it's a waste of time. Maybe I feel some discomfort to like go into those feelings around that thing I'm navigating. Sometimes that's hard, but it's the very thing I need, and then there's always distractions right that are pulling me away to do something else, but when I challenge these excuses, what remains is simple God called me to write all those years ago. I don't have to know why I'm writing. The practice is the magic and I always have time when I make time. So, in closing, thank you so much for your message, listener. This sparked so many ideas and I know it's going to be a message that others need to hear, and I thank you so much for igniting excitement for this. Send me a message feature. It would make me so happy to hear from you, my listener, on a regular basis or a little more often. So do it today. Go hit that button and send me a message, an idea, a question, maybe your response to what's left after you've managed the excuses that keep you from writing.
Speaker 1:Lastly, if you have trouble journaling on your own, come journal with us. That's why I'm doing the free monthly classes. It's a guided conversation time to reflect and write. This is your superpower, my friend. Remember journaling. The really the magic of journaling is helping you check in and meet with yourself. However you choose to interact with those journals and pages and things that you've already written. This is the important piece. Until next week, happy journaling. This is the important piece. Until next week, happy journaling. Thank you for making it all the way to the end and thank you for listening to differently. If you enjoyed this episode, will you please go leave a five-star review and share it with someone. Goodbye for now. I'll see you next week.