A Taylor-Made Life: Writin’ my life away

It probably comes as no surprise that I, as a writer, have an affinity for notebooks. Journals, field notes; lined, unlined – I love them all.

I am fairly particular about the notebooks I’ll use specifically for journaling, but any notebook I have I’ll find a use for. Currently in my rotation is one strictly for journal entries, two junk journals, one creative journal (mixes writing with art) and one list notebook.

This gives purpose to all of the various pens, markers and stickers I have at any given time. This is where I’ll give a shout-out to my husband for not throwing all this clutter into the trash, as I probably have some facet of this hobby in every room of the house.

While I would often start a journal, it wasn’t until college that I consistently kept up with journal entries and filled an entire book. From there, it became a habit, and I’m now on my fourth journal. I already have the next one ready to go when this one is complete.

Earlier this week, an image of a red-and-yellow planner folio notebook popped into my head. This was the first “fancy” journal I remember having as a kid. I called it my ketchup-and-mustard journal and it’s where I’d keep my ideas, thoughts and friends’ phone numbers.

Whatever happened to that journal is anyone’s guess. Part of me would love to flip through it again, and another part of me knows it would make me cringe.

Every couple of years, I go through my old journals and read every entry. It can be quite difficult looking back at your former self through the perspective of your current self and not having the urge to kick your former self. Once you get past the initial cringy-ness, it’s amazing to see the growth year-over-year.

I wish I had stayed consistent with journaling when I was younger so I could go even further back and revisit my former self, but I’ll have to rely on memory.

Friends and family have told me that they don’t tend to keep journals because they don’t have much to say. Most of my entries aren’t deep, prophetic thoughts and are usually “I ate a really good cookie today” or “this is something that made me laugh.”

As life gets busier and the days move by faster, it’s nice to have something to keep track of those smaller moments that I can look back on. For that reason, I’d encourage anyone to keep a journal. Even if it takes you a few years to finish (as that’s usually the case for me), it’s still worth the time.