Dear Diary | How I'm journalling this year

I've always loved diaries. I never quite managed to write in them consistently, but throughout my teenage years, every year I bought a new blank notebook to regularly scribble down my thoughts about my day, the things that were bothering me and to contemplate the likelihood of the boy on the bus I had a crush on knowing my existence and one day acknowledging it. As I grew older, and the academic deadlines increased, I felt like I just didn't have time to journal, though I would always end up finding some sort of outlet for my thoughts. In short, keeping some sort of diary or journal has always been, and I suspect will always be, important to me.

This year, I'm using these two beautiful goodies from kikki.K: the Reflection Journal and the 365 Days Journal. At the end of each day, usually a little later than I'd like (though I'm working on this) I sit down and write in these two. At the beginning, I thought that I wouldn't have time to keep up two journals, but it usually takes me about 30 minutes, and they serve two different purposes.

The Reflection Journal  allows me to just do that - to reflect on the day by filling out a premade form that allows me to note what I am grateful for, the highlight of the day, the overall feeling of the day and what kind of moments I experienced, to determine what area of my life my actions impacted on and to jot down what I learnt from the day. I really like that there's only room for one or two sentences, especially on days when I feel didn't go particularly well; since I only need to write one thing, I can usually find it, and makes me realise that even on the worst of days, there's something good in it. I find that it's a great way to stay mindful of the present and grateful for what you have, whilst also being able to see areas that you can improve in a positive light.

The 365 Day Journal I use to expand on the day, or how I'm feeling. I initially wanted to use it as a sort of scrapbook, collecting bits and pieces from my day but realised that this wasn't feasible for every day, so I just keep it as a daily journal for my thoughts. I don't always journal every day, but since I'm used to skipping entire months in diaries I've previously kept, I don't worry about skipping a few days: I just fill them in with quotes, song lyrics and wishlists. 

What's most important to me this year is doing journaly consistently as I've noticed that staying mindful and also dumping all my thoughts on a page before I go to bed really helps to keep my mind clear and just that little more positive. 

Do you journal?