- Hey loves, how's it going?
It's Ann, welcome to my channel.
I want to go over 10 tips for the journaling beginner.
I noticed that a lot
in my journaling videos that,
so many people want to try journaling
but they think that they need to achieve
a certain level of skill in order to start journaling
or you have to like be at a professional level.
That is not the case at all.
There are so many amazing artworks out there,
there are so many amazing journalers
that really turn their journals into a creative masterpiece,
and it can get super intimidating.
To be honest with you, when I started,
I didn't do it for awhile just
because I felt like I wasn't good enough
and the more I thought about it,
I thought it was just really silly because journaling
should be a personal, just a personal thing, you know?
A personal development and when it comes to development
you start from somewhere and you watch yourself evolve.
So with that being said, I want to get into number one,
and number one is to be able
to accept that you are going to mess up.
And so, if you want to begin to be a journaler,
you need to accept the fact that you're going to mess up,
your handwriting is not going to be on a straight line,
you're going to need to cross out certain things,
wipe it out or just leave it as is
and I think that's all the best part
about journaling is that you go back
and you look at your mistake and you see how much
you change and how much you evolve.
It's better to start somewhere than nowhere at all.
So, be okay with messing up.
So number two is to fill excited
about organizing, setting goals.
You don't necessarily have to have an end goal just yet.
I mean, it's normal to not have it all figured out.
You know how when you were in grade school,
people are always like, "What do you wanna be
"when you grow up?"
Like as if you should know already
and as if whatever you set for yourself is going
to be your end goal for the rest of your life (laughing).
That's not the case, that's like an old way of thinking,
that's an old mindset to,
you know, just to live and base upon.
Our lives are always changing, we're always evolving,
perspective change. and so it's normal.
It's okay to always change your goals,
and, you know,
to always look for something that you resonate with.
So, it's okay not to have anything at the moment,
but it's good to feel excited about wanting to
and feeling exciting, looking forward to being there,
because that is a great start and when you start that way,
that's when other things flow into your life.
So, with that right mentality,
with that excitement, you know, you're ready for it.
You're setting your life to be ready for goals
and, you know, big, new possibilities, ideas.
So, with that, you know, things will flow into your life
and it would be more harmonious.
So, instead of like starting somewhere stuck,
you're starting somewhere excited and hopeful, you know?
Number three, let go of judgment, especially on yourself.
We are always our worst critic.
I know that I'm my worst critic
and you're never going to be
exactly where you want to be.
You know, the result is not going to be how you imagine it
because our prospective change all the time.
So, let go of judging yourself
because you are the only person
that's going to look at your journal, write in your journal,
unless you share it to the world like I am.
But, you know, I was able to let go of judgment.
And there are some things I'm not like completely happy
with some some of my spread, I'm just like,
ew, that kinda looks weird,
I'm just gonna put it out there anyways.
Like I'm able to like just let go
and it feels so much more freeing.
You know, it's like a big old weight,
a big old bag of rice off of my shoulders (laughing).
So, this is not going to happen like overnight,
none of these.
Like, being okay with messing up
and feeling okay with getting excited
about, you know, setting goals and all that kind of stuff.
And then judging yourself, like letting go of judgment,
that is not going to go away all in one night.
This is a work in progress and journaling
is a great way to start this kind of mentality.
You are training yourself, you are rewiring your brain,
the neuroplasticity in your mind.
So it's a great way for you
to start and just like
rewire yourself to a new updated version of you.
Speaking of that, number four is being able
to be vulnerable in your journal.
So, journaling is a very personal process
and I highly recommend for you to exercise vulnerability.
It is such a powerful exercise,
I know that when I allow myself to be vulnerable,
allow myself to share all my insecurities,
all my worries, everything, in my journal, two people,
I was able to become more confident.
It's like taking that extra step in just finding
your strength and becoming more confident,
because you put it out there and you're like there!
That is who I am, I'm not perfect,
I'm accepting myself for where I am in my life
and that's just me, take it or leave it.
And from there you just like whoosh,
like this whole new gush of confidence come in you
and it makes you feel more strong.
So practice vulnerability and a great way,
a great place to start practicing vulnerability
is in your journal.
Number five, experiment with, why did I have to do 10?
(laughing)
Number five, experiment with different journals.
You are not going to have one favorite journal,
maybe you will?
But I know that I have two main journals,
I have a few journals,
but I have two main journals that I use.
I have a smaller one that I put in my bag with me
and I carry it everywhere I go.
So whenever like an idea,
a new inspiration, just pops up in my mind,
or when I'm reading something and I wanna take notes,
I just like jot it all down, do a whole mind spill on there
and then, you know, later in the day,
or some other day, I would take my time
to go through all the messy notes
and I would organize it in my Creative Minds Journal,
which is coming up December.
Yeah, so, you know,
you wanna experiment with different journals,
you might wanna try different brands,
different sizes, different paper quality
and you're gonna find something that you personally like.
Something that will resonate with you and hopefully
it will be the Creative Minds Journal soon.
Just putting it out there.
But it's okay to have more than one, you know?
You don't have to have one, like,
oh my God, a perfect journal.
Okay, so number six, speaking of journals,
you're going to need a few good pens.
I personally love gel pens,
but you may love other kind of pens
and you want to feel excited while you're writing.
Like, oh my God, this feels so good writing.
So, I notice when I have a good pen,
I'm just like I love writing
because like my writing just looks so much better on paper,
and, just the flow, the feel of holding a pen onto the paper
and just the process of like all the idea wishing
through your head and like coming out through your arms
and into the pen and onto paper
is just like a amazing, magical feeling.
So you want to have that feeling
of excitement when you're writing
and you want to get excited to write
and to doodle and to jot things down in your journal.
So, find yourself a few good pens.
My favorite pen right now is the Tul,
I think that's how you say it, T U L pens,
they're like the gel ink pens.
And I'm trying to find a really good refillable pen
because I don't want to keep buying and disposing pens.
They're plastic and they're bad for the environment,
so hopefully I'll find a really good pen that I can reuse
and just switch out the ink.
So if you any good recommendation for me,
you know, put it in the comment section below this video.
Number seven is mix your pages with different layouts.
Like, so, basically, play around with different layouts.
So if you have like a blank journal, try different layouts.
I share different layouts all the time in my monthly video,
so you could look there for inspiration,
or you could go on Pinterest, you could go on Instagram.
There's so many different layouts out there for you to use.
You could free flow it, I love to free flow
and then I like to make a list,
create a list, those are some basic ones.
Categorize things,
and then you'll find your style eventually.
You'll find things that you,
like different styles that you like using.
Like for me, for instance, I like to plan by the week,
that's what I learned about myself,
instead of planning by the day,
which looks really overwhelming in my journal,
like a bunch of like notes and all that kind of stuff.
I like to just narrow down like all the,
like the important stuff, on a weekly planner.
Number eight, play around with different mediums,
like, different markers, different pens,
different color pencils, paint.
I played around with a whole bunch of different mediums
and what I like is water color.
And the way I use my water color is completely different
then how you use water color on water color paper.
So I have to do a lot of improvising
and just experimental work.
So, throughout my whole process of journaling,
you know, doing my journal series for you all,
I've learned a lot about how to water paint,
I mean, use water color on journaling paper.
Find the medium that you like and then you may wanna stick
around with it or you may want to mix it up,
whatever works for you will work for you (giggling).
Number nine is to have an essential beginner's kit
and I'm gonna go over what I like to use.
So, for my beginner's kit, I have like one or two journals,
that's what I recommend for you to start off with first.
It doesn't have to be the one, the journal,
just have any journal for you to start experimenting on.
Have a few mechanical pencils, I love mechanica pencils,
but of course you can use like different kind of pencils,
a ruler, an eraser,
and you want some pens, I like gel ink pens,
and then the medium of your choice.
Or you could play around with different markers,
colored pencils.
I bought a whole bunch of those just to play around with
and I ended up just using my water color palette the most.
Which, by the way, a lot of you guys asked me
what color palette I have been using,
it's something that I've been testing out for my journal
because my journal's gonna come with a palette.
So, yeah, I just been testing it out just to make sure
that the quality's good and ready for people to use.
So number ten is just to find
your inspiration online, anywhere you go.
If you don't know where to start,
like, you're like, "Oh my god, I'm not creative,
"I can't journal, but I really want to."
I mean, you know, wanting to is a really good reason
why you should you start, but,
because you don't know what to do,
that's not a good reason to not start.
So, find inspiration online.
There's so many inspirations out there
that you could find on Pinterest, Instagram
and these are healthy ways on how to use social media,
is to find inspiration.
So, you know, go through #abulletjournal layouts,
you know, set ups, and all that kind of stuff
and you'll find like a wide array
of like different layouts, setups that you can use
and it's always good to start with an inspiration.
And then from there,
then you start to develop your own personal skill.
So, these are all basic, you know,
simple tips for the journaling beginner
and this will definitely help you.
You know, start with that right mindset,
the right intention,
and then you just ease your way
into journaling by experimenting with different materials,
different journals, different mediums and then slowly,
once you do that, you just like take inspiration
from different sources.
From there you will start to develop your own personal skill
and you would just bloom into a beautiful butterfly
with your own artwork and you'll become a journaler,
or whatever, well, you are already a journaler, okay?
(laughing)
So you'll just become a newer version of yourself,
a newer, improved version of yourself.
Because journaling is all about jotting down your evolution
and seeing how much you change and being proud of it.
So, with that being said, I hope you enjoy today's video.
Make sure to like it, share it and other then that,
I will see you soon, love you (smacking), ciao!
- [Announcer] Press and create.
(twinkling music)
- [Ann] Starting with a little recap of November's theme, I.