How your journey is greater than the sum of its parts.
Although I have kept journals on and off for over 30 years, it has only really been the last few years that I have kept them religiously and done something in them every single day.
I might get to the end of the day and realise that I haven't written anything and so, just to keep the habit unbroken, I will scrawl a few lines to describe the parts of the day that were particularly different than the day before.
On other days, I can write pages and pages of thoughts and ideas, notes from workshops I am attending, quotes from books I am reading, drawings, sketches, collages.
Anything goes in my journal. There are no rules.
And, it isn't neat and tidy. It's a place to collect everything that is inside my head, and if your mind is anything like mine then you'll know that it certainly isn't always tidy in there.
Some of my journals are more art-based, filled with sketches and drawings. But, with these last few months, being in lockdown, my journal has been very word-based, a lot more pensive and internal. Understandably.
These last few days, as the world seems to be opening up more and more, I've started to become artier again. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just happened.
And, that is what I love about journaling. As you go about your business, adding an entry of some kind every day, trying to be as honest as you can, whatever form that entry might take, the journal takes shape beyond your conscious thoughts.
What emerges when the journal is finished is a magical expression of your life over the last few weeks and months. It's a holistic manifestation of your everchanging moods and thoughts, feelings and emotions.
The whole is truly greater than the sum of its parts. And, it's a beautiful thing.
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