 
Journaling 
Your Life


Disclaimer:
This eBook was written by (your name). I 
am not a doctor or mental health 
professional and cannot be held liable for 
the information written here. 
This book is meant to provide information 
about using a journal for daily living, health 
and wellness. 
It is not intended to provide medical advice. 
Do not use it as an alternative to seeking 
help from a medical or mental health 
professional.


Table of Contents

Chapter One: Expose Your Inner Demons	5
Overcoming Resistance	6
Gaining More Clarity	7
Embrace the Good and Bad	8
Utilize Your Journal Entries	8
Chapter Two: Use the Journal for Recovery 	10
What Type of Recovery?	11
Ways to Use Your Journal for Recovery	11
Chapter Three: Find Peace and Happiness 	13
It’s Not Meant to Be Perfect 	14
Journal for Mindful Thinking	15
Express Gratitude	16
Happiness Through Achievements 	17
Memories and Nostalgia	17
Chapter Four: Make Goals for the Future 	18
Personal and Work Goals 	19
Improving Yourself	20
Set a 5 or 10-Year Plan	20
Chapter Five: Preserve Your Memories 	21
How to Preserve Your Memories with a Journal 	22
Organize Your Journal	23
Make Events More Meaningful	23
Chapter Six: Create a Self-Care Journaling Routine 	24
What is a Self-Care Routine? 	25
Use Journaling as a Catalyst	26
Mix it Up	26
Chapter Seven: Give it a Month 	27
Start Slow with Journaling	28
Don’t Give Up – Give it a Month	28
Make it a Journal, Not a Diary	28

Introduction

Journaling is the process of documenting your life, but there are so many ways to go 
about it.  

Some people prefer to use it as a diary of every event that goes on throughout the 
course of their days, while others like more specific types of journals like travel or 
gratitude journals. 

This eBook is going to discuss ‘Journaling Your Life’. It talks about some of the main 
benefits of having a daily journal that documents what you do, who you are, who you 
want to be, your goals, and so much more. 

This is all about improving your life through the act of journaling. You will learn how a 
journal can provide you with more clarity, how you can discover things about yourself 
you never knew existed, and how you can create a 5 or 10-year plan with your journal. 

Keep reading to learn more about transforming your life with the help of a journal.



Chapter 1 – Expose Your 
Inner Demons


You will hear a lot about how journaling can help you find clarity, learn more about 
yourself, and gain some perspective into your life.
This is all true, but there is something else it can do for you – help you to get rid of all 
that resistance you have been holding onto, the things you tell yourself to feel better 
temporarily, but really what you are doing is hiding all of your inner demons.
These demons aren’t necessarily bad, or as serious as they might seem. Sometimes, 
there are just certain aspects of your life or personality that are being held back by 
worries, fears, regrets, or other concerns. 
With journaling, you are going to learn a lot about yourself, your mind, and how you 
think and feel, to the point where you eventually are able to identify and overcome what 
has been holding you back for so long.

What You Will Learn in this Chapter
For this first chapter, you are going to learn more about how journaling can help you 
understand more about yourself, gain clarity, and really embrace every part of you – not 
just the good. 
Are you having trouble understanding your own motivations?
Do you feel like your fears or anxiety keep you from succeeding?
Are you looking for another way to find joy and happiness?
You will get all of this and more just by writing in your journal every day.

Overcoming Resistance
The first part of journaling has to do with overcoming resistance. This is when you start 
by the simple act of writing in your journal every day, then through those fun little 
lightbulbs that go off, you learn a lot more about yourself.

Why is this important?
Because you aren’t just focusing on only the good or only the bad – but a wonderful 
combination of both. Journaling can help you figure out what is holding you back. And 
trust us, something is holding back most people in one way or another.



What do you mean by overcoming resistance?
Another common trait in many people is that they know what needs to be done to 
improve their life, whether personally or professionally, but they resist. The problem is 
that everyone resists for a different reason, so it is hard to get advice from others on 
exactly how to stop this bad habit.
What journaling does is provide you with more clarity, so that you can actually identify 
what those inner demons are, allowing you to overcome whatever is causing your 
resistance. 
Remember this can be any facet of your life, such as:
Asking for a promotion or moving up the ladder at work.
Changing career direction or starting a business.
Making adjustments to your personal life.
Finding what will truly bring you joy and contentment.
There are so many ways you can hold yourself back in life, including in relationships, as 
a parent or friend, personal life, home life, finances, and just about everything else you 
encounter on a daily basis.

Gaining More Clarity
You will hear this a lot when you begin reading about and learning about journaling. 
Clarity is so important to improve your life, but it is something that isn’t always easy to 
find.
People often get caught up in their day-to-day life activities, that they don’t take a step 
back, analyze their own mind and thoughts and feelings, and figure out where their 
motivations are coming from.
Do you want to understand yourself? Are you having trouble figuring out why you make 
certain decisions? Do you know that you hold yourself back, but no idea why?
This is the power of gaining clarity. You learn more about yourself in ways you never 
thought possible without seeing a mental health professional. You can actually look into 
your own thoughts and actions, and understand where you were coming from.



With a journal, you are writing down your thoughts and feelings regularly, and when you 
read it back, it often brings a lot of self-awareness. You begin seeing patterns in your 
behaviors, understand what causes your anxiety or depressive episodes, and have a 
better understanding at where your mind is at during different phases of your life.
Everyone can benefit from gaining more clarity through journaling.

Embrace the Good and Bad
Part of finding and exposing your inner demons in order to move forward with your life in 
a happy and productive way, you need to embrace both the good and the bad. This is 
true of everyone – you have strengths and weaknesses. Qualities that make you stand 
out, and qualities that might need some improving.
There is nothing wrong with things you might view as “faults”, however. There are some 
things that just make certain aspects of your life a little more challenging, maybe just a 
little different. Other “bad” things have more to do with your thought processes or 
feelings about situations, whether sparked by anxiety or regrets in the past that have 
you a little fearful for making the same mistakes in the future.

Working on Embracing Both
As you begin writing in your journal more often, you will gain that beautiful clarity, and 
start to see these patterns emerge. You learn in what ways you are making great strides 
to be a happier, more fulfilled person, but also some choices that you might keep 
making over and over again that are halting your progress.
Appreciate both!
Let the good enlighten you, and the bad challenge you. Become a better version of 
yourself. A happier person. 

Utilizing Your Journal Entries
Your journal is going to become your new best friend in so many ways. Before too long, 
it is no longer something you schedule in to your day or feel forced to do, but actually 
look forward to do. This is partly habit, but mostly because of everything you gain.
Who knew just writing down your thoughts or your day on paper could make such a 
drastic difference in your life?!


The Next Steps
Once you have journaling down and you have started exploring who you are and what 
you want to do next, utilize your older journal entries. Don’t just write things down, put it 
away, and never look at it again. Use them!
You can keep looking back on older journal entries as often as you need to in order to 
understand where you were at a certain point in your life.
This comes up a lot more often than you might think.
Maybe you are struggling with something that happened about a year ago, and you 
want to see if you wrote anything about what you were going through.
Last week you might have ended up with severe panic attacks, and want to see if 
something triggered it.
Or maybe it is a little lighter than that, and you simply want to remember what your 
goals originally were, compared to what they are now. 
Save your journals and read through them often to refresh your mind.



Chapter 2 – Use the 
Journal for Recovery



The next amazing way you can journal your life is through recovery. This can be 
recovery for anything in your life that you are working through, whether it is from a 
mental illness, physical injury, or substance abuse recovery.
It also might be more simple than that, where you are recovering from a breakup or 
something that was affecting your mental state for a while. Perhaps you were struggling 
financially, and just now coming around to getting your life back.
Whatever it is you feel that you are recovering from, writing in a journal can help 
tremendously.

What Type of Recovery?
Don’t stress too much about the type of recovery. Everyone has something they are 
trying to work through. The journal is really going to help you get to that next step, but 
also have a place to vent and discuss what you are going through in private, in the 
meantime.

Ways to Use the Journal for Recovery
There are many ways you can utilize a journal to help with the recover process. Here 
are just a few options available to you: 

Keep a Daily Journal – The simplest way is to write in your journal every day, whether it 
is about your recover or not. Chances are, aspects of the recovery are going to come 
up. This is a good way to stay on track and also look back at choices you made to figure 
out how you ended up where you are. 

Make Sketches and Drawings – A journal does not just have to be words on a page. 
Many people benefit greatly from sketches, doodles, or drawings. The entire journal 
entry one day can be nothing but drawings and art, while other days it might be in the 
margins. Art reflects so much of how you feel, even it if you don’t realize it. 

Document the Process – Similar to a daily journal, you can instead make the entire 
journal about your recovery. This is when you are documenting the recovery process 
each day, talking about the ups and downs, struggles and triumphs, successes and 
failures, and everything in between. 
 

Try a Gratitude Journal – Another way to approach a recovery journal is to start a 
gratitude journal. Instead of dwelling on how hard the recovery process is or constantly 
talking about the challenges, you instead shift your mindset to what you are most 
grateful for each day. 

Set Goals – It is a great idea to add your goals, both short and long-term, to your 
recovery journal. A short goal might be following your diet if you are recovering from an 
eating disorder, while a long-term goal could be going back to school when you are 
done with substance abuse or another type of recovery.




Chapter 3 – Find Peace 
and Happiness

 

When you start journaling your life, you begin to find all of these amazing benefits. It is 
wonderful for your mental, physical, and emotional health. These benefits might take a 
little while to become apparent, so be patient! And don’t force yourself to feel or 
experience something you think you should be experiencing. Just let it come naturally.
One of our favorite benefits of journaling is the ability to truly become a happier and 
more peaceful person. This is through the act of journaling, the clarity you get, creating 
plans for the future, and so much more. Here is a quick look at how you can become a 
happier and more content person with journaling.

It’s Not Meant to Be Perfect
The first thing to remember is that journaling is not meant to be perfect. It is not 
something you need to do a certain way and there is no “right” way to do it. But that’s 
the beauty of it – it becomes whatever you need it to be. 
This is at the forefront of finding more peace with journaling, because there is no 
pressure. You are not showing your journal to anyone (unless you want to), so you can 
write anything and everything you want without worrying about the repercussions. 
Your journal is your private sanctuary, your safe haven, the one place you can go to 
where you can express all your inner thoughts and hopes and fears without worrying 
about judgment or ridicule.
This provides so much power for your life, allowing you to become a much more 
peaceful person, and ultimately, a happier person.

Expert Tip – Keeping Your Journal Private
If this is something you hope to get out of your journaling experience, keep it private! 
Either don’t tell people you have it or always keep it with you or in a safe place. Knowing 
nobody can find your journal and read it makes it even more freeing for you. 







Journaling for Mindful Thinking
The next way journaling can help you become a happier person is through mindful 
thinking. Mindfulness is all about living in the current moment and acknowledging what 
you feel right now, whether it is good or bad. You take each moment to reflect on your 
current mental and physical state, without worrying too much about the future or 
dwelling on the past.
It is used in many different scenarios, with some people doing mindful meditation on a 
daily basis, while others practice mindfulness for things like weight loss (mindful eating) 
or just mindful thinking as they go throughout their day.
It is an amazing tool for your mental and emotional wellbeing.

How do You Use it in Journaling?
Something to keep in mind is that you don’t need to try to be mindful while journaling, 
because the act of writing in your journal alone will become a more mindful experience. 
However, here are some tips for being more mindful as you journal:

Take a minute to think about your thoughts first. There is no need to rush into 
writing in your journal if you have a little extra time. Take a few minutes to just sit 
quietly, close your eyes, and explore what your mind is providing you. It will typically 
guide you in one direction or another, giving you clues as to what is a priority right now 
in your thought process. 

Journal about what you are feeling at this very moment before going into the past 
or future. Yes, there are a lot of benefits to journaling about what you have gone 
through, remembering important moments in your life, and making plans for the future. 
But for mindful journaling, always start with the present and what you are experiencing 
at this point in your life before exploring other moments. 

When making plans, think of what you can change NOW. Another way to be more 
mindful in your journaling process is to think of what you can change now, or in the near 
future, as opposed to what you can do in 6 months or a year or longer. As you make 
plans and set your goals for the future, always start with the present day and 
circumstances right now in your life. 
 

Allow yourself to be grateful for your current life. A big part of being mindful is 
understanding, acknowledging, and appreciating how you feel right now. Listen to what 
your mind is telling you, feel those emotions, be grateful for your life, then move on.

Express Gratitude
Speaking of gratitude, this is another amazing benefit you get by journaling. Sometimes 
it can seem a little counter-intuitive, but when you are more thankful for what is in your 
life, it brings in even more happiness and more things to be grateful for.

Never underestimate the power of gratitude.
No matter where your life is now, you have something to be grateful for. There are big 
things and small things, and everything in between. Here are some examples, though 
what YOU are grateful for is going to be unique for YOU.  

*	You have steady employment – whether it is your dream job or not.
*	Your personal/family life is going well.
*	You got up today.
*	Your illness is improving.
*	You have amazing friends in your life.
*	You accomplished something today.
*	You are working hard on your goals.
*	You have all the basic comforts people need.
*	You had help with a big problem you were experiencing.
*	Your faith is helping to bring you peace in a dark time.
 
Remember nothing is too small or insignificant. 




How to Express Gratitude in Your Journal
This part is easy – just write it down! Some people will have a journal specifically 
dedicated to their daily gratitude, but this isn’t necessary. If you are journaling your life 
and writing in it every day, you can have one section each day where you list at least 
one thing you are grateful for today. This is also going to help with mindfulness.
Don’t feel too much pressure to make it long and detailed. Just a simple sentence about 
something you are grateful for today is all you need.

Happiness Through Achievements
Another thing that people tend to underestimate in their life is how much happier and 
fulfilled they feel when they accomplish something. Making goals and reaching them is 
so much more than what it brings to you on a financial or professional level – this can 
bring you so much joy when you realize you set a goal and accomplished it.
These can be achievements in your personal or professional life. There are a lot of 
wonderful things to set your mind to and work hard to strive for. 
Every small and large achievement is worth celebrating.
Use your journal to celebrate every single achievement you have, from small things like 
getting up the courage to meet someone new, to large achievements like completing a 
big project or a goal you wrote in your journal a while ago.

Memories and Nostalgia
We are going to talk a little more about memories in a later chapter, but for now here is 
a little introduction to why this is helpful for peace and happiness in your life.
There are some memories in your life that you might not want to remember – mistakes 
you have made, regrets you have. But those good memories – the ones you really want 
to hold onto, can bring you joy.
Think about a time when you were truly happy. It can be one small moment, a 
compliment paid to you, a fun birthday, a special moment between you and a beloved 
family member. When you think back on it, it brings you joy, right? You smile at the 
thought of it. 
This is what nostalgia can bring to you. When you write everything down in your journal, 
you have all these opportunities to bring back your happy memories, reflect on them, 
and become a happier person having experienced them.

Chapter 4 – Make Plans for 
the Future

 

When you think about becoming happier in your normal life, what do you think about? 
Chances are, you think about what you can change. Not necessarily what to change 
about yourself – though that is definitely part of it – but what you can change in your life.
Journaling is a wonderful tool for this, because not only are you learning more about 
yourself and how to make positive changes and work on a more positive mindset for 
happiness, but you can also identify and achieve your goals.

Don’t Think About it as Being Better – But Happier
There are some mindset tricks that can make you feel better or worse about yourself. 
You shouldn’t think of yourself as flawed in a negative way. Don’t tell yourself you want 
to be a better person, but just a happier person. Someone content and more fulfilled in 
your daily life. Someone who has found peace in who you are and what you do and the 
people you surround yourself with.
This mindset shift is very important moving forward.

Personal and Work Goals
This is an easy place to start in your journal, since you probably already have an idea of 
some of your goals. However, just journaling every day can help you really delve into 
this and find new goals you didn’t even know you had. 
Don’t put too much pressure on yourself here – just write in your journal daily, and you 
will most likely have a long list of things you would love to accomplish.

How to Start with Your Goals
If you are having trouble knowing where to start, just start small. Think of what your 
current goals are. You can mix and match personal and professional, or just do one 
category at a time.
Do you want to go to college?
Are you looking to advance your career?
Is there something in your personal life you want to achieve?
Looking to start a business? 

List any and all goals you currently have on your mind, no matter how big or small they 
seem. Remember they might seem inconsequential, but even goals like completing a 
home renovation project or calling a long-lost friend are something to strive for.
Once you have listed your current goals, you already have a better picture of who you 
are and what types of aspirations you have in life. As you begin your journaling every 
day, you will start to add to this list, and possibly even modify other goals you thought 
were important, but are now overshadowed by something more important in your life.

Improving Yourself
This can be a tricky one, because there is a delicate balance between accepting who 
you are, and wanting to change. There is definitely a middle ground where you fully 
accept and acknowledge all of your traits, but still want to work on yourself.
Think about it like this – you want to be come the best version of yourself. Not 
different, not better. You still want to be you, but at the peak of who you are and what 
you can accomplish.

How to Do This
This requires a lot of self-reflection and clarity, which is what you are going to get from 
journaling. It is also not something you will learn the first day you write in your journal. 
This is more of the long-term process of journaling, where every day, you understand 
more about yourself, flaws you don’t like, things you love about yourself, and things that 
you believe changing will improve upon your life.

Set a 5 or 10-Year Plan
Now for the fun stuff – long-term goals! While short-term goals are great, don’t forget 
about things you want more in the distant future. Creating a 5 or 10-year plan lays out 
everything for you. You begin by setting the main goal, which is what you want to 
accomplish in a certain amount of time.
Ask yourself this question – Where do you see yourself in 5 years? What about 10 
years? 
Once you can answer that question with certainty, you can start working on your 5 or 
10-year plan right in your journal.
Write down your goal, what it would take to achieve, and always have realistic 
expectations about it. Wanting to be a millionaire in 10 years is a lofty goal, so try to be 
a bit more realistic given the time period you have for whatever goal it is, going step by 
step with choices to make in your life in order to achieve it.


Chapter 5 – Preserve Your 
Memories

 
 






As we mentioned in a previous chapter, one of the great things about having a journal to 
document your life is that you have an easy way to preserve your memories. You are 
writing down every piece of your life, or at least the things you personally find the most 
important.
Over time, you will probably collect many journals full of thoughts, feelings, memories, 
and yes some regrets and bad choices. But everything you do in your life is what makes 
you who you are, not just the good parts. 

How to Preserve Your Memories with a Journal
You can start preserving your memories in a journal simply by writing everything down. 
Document your days, including what you did, plans you are making, whether things 
went the right or wrong way, and how you felt about certain situations.
When something notable happens, such as meeting someone new, write it down! Don’t 
worry if something seems inconsequential right now – later you might change your 
mind. You might have an acquaintance that someday becomes your best friend or even 
spouse. You want to have the memory of how you met. 
While you don’t have to feel pressures to document every second of every day, writing 
down what happens each day is a great way to start using the journal, and is especially 
helpful during times when you might have a little writer’s block.

Don’t Forget to Add Pictures! 
As you are documenting your life in the daily journal, try to add pictures when you can. 
Maybe there were moments like parties or other special events where a picture would 
add to the journal entry, or you just want to doodle a picture that explains how you were 
feeling at that moment. These all become precious keepsakes later on.

 
Organize Your Journals
If you are like most people, you will have a large stack of journals every year. There will 
be days when you fill up one page or not even a page, but others days are so filled with 
thoughts that you end up filling up multiple pages. With daily journaling, this can add up 
quite a bit.
When you want to have memories saved in your journals, it means a little organization 
so you can look back and find the right one. 
As you finish a journal, skim through it and make notes elsewhere about what went on 
in your life. This can be somewhat of a summary or index about your life in this specific 
journal. Keep that piece of paper inside the journal as a quick reference.

Make Events More Meaningful
Don’t forget that writing everything in your journal makes all of these events and 
memories more meaningful. You don’t just have something happen that passes you by, 
only to think about it every once in a while. It turns your entire life into a series of 
nostalgia, allowing you to look back at specific moments in time whenever you want to.

 
 
Chapter 6 – Create a Self-
Care Journaling Routine

Unless you have been living under a rock, you are probably well aware of what self-care 
means. It is the act of doing something for you, and only you, to help with overall health 
and wellness.
You can also combine journaling and self-care to create a healthy routine each day that 
will improve your life, health, and happiness.
Don’t think of it as something selfish, but more as improving yourself, so that not only 
you benefit from it, but other people do as well. It is something everyone should strive 
for. You want to be the best version of yourself, but in order to do that, you need to take 
care of yourself.
Keep reading to learn how you can take the simple act of journaling to create a self-care 
routine.

What is a Self-Care Routine?
A self-care routine is something you do each day, typically around the same time each 
day, that is meant to be just for you. This can be as simple as watching a movie, taking 
a bath, or walking your dog. You want it to be something that makes you feel at peace, 
reduces stress, and helps you to spend at least a few minutes a day to yourself.
Everyone needs to unwind and relax at the end of the day (or the beginning), but far too 
many people get wrapped up in their busy lives, they don’t even take the time out to do 
it. Make yourself a priority, and you will see what a drastic difference it has on the rest of 
your life.

Creating Your Self-Care Routine
There is no right or wrong way to have a self-care routine. It can include just one thing 
or a combination of things each day that will help you practice self-care and do 
something for you. Remember that it isn’t meant to be something that makes you feel 
selfish, but is important your for emotional wellbeing.
The self-care routine is going to be unique for you, but here are some things you might 
include:
Writing in your journal.
Having a morning cup of coffee or tea.
Writing in your planner.
Taking a hot, bubble bath.
Meditating with an essential oil diffuser.
Going for a walk.
Sitting outside for a few minutes of alone time.
Relaxing on the couch with a good book.

 
Choosing the Right Time
Once you have chosen what to do during this self-care routine, you can then decide on 
a good time. The two most obvious times include the beginning or end of the day. The 
best time is also individual for you, so it depends on your schedule and when it is more 
likely you will have some time alone.
Can you wake up earlier than your family? If so, this might be good for you as you can 
have 10-15 minutes (or longer) in the morning to get ready for your day.
What about at the end of the day? If you live alone or your roommates are busy in the 
evening, this might be the perfect time for a little self-care.

Use Journaling as a Catalyst
The reason journaling goes hand-in-hand with a self-care routine is because it becomes 
a catalyst. Journaling is often what sparks the idea of having a routine just for you each 
day. Maybe before you didn’t see much reason, but now that you are writing in your 
journal every day, you have the desire for a few minutes alone.
Most people prefer to write in their journal when they are completely alone, whether it is 
in your bedroom at night or early in the morning while sitting at the kitchen table. This 
becomes a very personal and private experience, so it is good to not have outside 
distractions.

Mix it Up
Don’t forget that once you settle on a routine, it doesn’t necessarily mean that is the end 
of it. You can always switch it up by the day or week, depending on your schedule or 
what your days look like. Add more things to the self-care routine or take away activities 
that don’t seem to be working well for you.



Chapter 7 – Give it a Month

 








For this final chapter, we want to go over the stress or pressure you might feel when 
you first start journaling. As you read through all the potential benefits of journaling, it 
can start to be more intimidating, instead of motivating.
If you find that you aren’t sure journaling is right for you, don’t worry. It might not be right 
for everyone, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t worth trying! 
However, if you are all in, here are some tips to help keep you motivated in the 
beginning.

Start Slow with Journaling
While it is great to journal every day as part of your routine and to document your life, it 
is by no means mandatory to benefit from it. Some people prefer to just journal every 
once in a while at first, then when they start thinking of more to write about, they will 
write in it more often.
Take it slow in the beginning. Get a journal and a pen you would love to use, and just 
start by talking about who you are or where you are in your life right now. Or maybe you 
just want to use some journaling prompts in the beginning.
This is YOUR journaling experience, so it is perfectly fine to cater it to your own 
personal life.

Don’t Give Up – Give it a Month
Before you give up on journaling and assume it isn’t for you, just give it a month. One 
month. Write in your journal every day or at least every couple days for one month. 
Make note of the day each day for the month until you reach at least 30 days and see 
how you feel.
Still not into it? That’s ok! Keep the journal around in case you ever feel inclined to write 
in it again. But don’t give up after a few days because you don’t have this magical clarity 
and self-awareness you keep talking about.
It rarely happens that quickly.

Think of it as a Journal, Not a Diary
One more thing before we go – if you are thinking of your journal like a diary, you might 
not get the full effects of it. It is great to write about your day, but don’t just leave it at 
that. Really focus on your thoughts and feelings, goals, dreams, and aspirations. Go a 
step beyond what your childhood diary was like and really delve into who you are and 
who you want to be.
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