Top Six Journals For Beginners

So you want to start journaling? Yay!! I’m so glad you’re ready to start this journey. As someone who journals, daily, I can’t wait to see the transformation that you will experience.

Yes, there will be a transformation of your heart. It’s amazing to witness and to see yourself grow.

Now, when it comes to journaling there are so many different roads you can take. One road can be to journal about your weight loss journey. Another, could be to record your dreams and what you believe they mean for your life. You can even have a rage journal where you vent out all of your frustrations. Whichever one, or multiple, you choose I say, “Hooray!”

Types of Journals

Prayer Journal

The first one is a prayer journal. This is one that you would use throughout your time spent with God. For example, maybe you take sermon notes and reflect on it or annotate a bible verse and apply it to your life. You could also use it to write down prayer requests you have on your heart and times God has answered a prayer.

Rage Journal

This next one can be very therapeutic. This is a journal where you can just vent out all of your issues. Usually, it’s a blank journal with lines. Many times when you are feeling angry or stressed, writing down all of your thoughts and feelings can help you notice what is truly bothering you. You can also take it as a time to reframe your thoughts and how you can improve the situation after you’ve written your feelings down on paper. Fun tip: If you don’t want anyone to see your “rage” you can burn the paper. Trust me, it’s very therapeutic. A natural release of all the emotions you’ve built up inside. If you do burn it, let me know how it felt. Many times people say it helped them tangibly release their feelings.

*Disclaimer: Please be careful when burning to not harm you or others around you.

Memory Journal

If you are someone who loves to have memories written down this journal is for you. This is where you can record all the events that have happened in your life. An efficient way of journaling would be to have this written on a Google Doc. By writing it, electronically, you could search for a certain word such as “birthday” and every entry with “birthday” written in it would pop up. A great way to pull memories and walk down memory lane.

Self-Discovery Journal

This is my favorite kind of journal. A journal where you dive deep into your heart, pull out those emotions and experiences, and work through them to help you become a better person. One way to dive deep is to use a journal prompt. This is a question or phrase that helps you direct your thoughts. For example, “What fear is holding you back from living your best life?” or “What is your ideal day look like?” or “What are the top few strengths that you have?” By answering the prompt, you let that direct you and help you pull on emotions, or thoughts, you may not have realized are there.

Weight Loss/Food Log Journal

Often times, having a journal to keep track of what you ate and what activity you did for the day can be very beneficial for your health journey. Maybe you want to see if you react negatively towards certain foods such as gluten or dairy. Further, you may want to keep track of the type of workouts you do and which ones you find more rewarding than others. Many people use a food journal to help them stay healthy. Disclaimer though, know that counting calories and working out more than necessary can often times lead to eating disorders. If you feel that you are in an unhealthy relationship with food or working out please reach out to a therapist for help.

Bullet Journal

Lastly, is the bullet journal. Thousands of people find that bullet journaling is a great mix of all the different types of journals. For example, you may have a mood tracker in your bullet journal, or a habits tracker, or even an affirmations page. If you are a creative person, bullet journaling helps bring the creativeness out. Many people love to doodle in their journals.

Just Get Started!

Whichever format of  journaling you choose, is totally up to you and your preferences. If I have any advice for you, it would be to just get started. Try out each kind and see which one you get the most reward out of. Maybe you think you’re a bullet journaler, yet realize all you write about is memories and want to make a sort of scrapbook instead. Yet, maybe you struggle coming up with your own things to journal about and find that giving yourself a prompt is a lot more helpful.

If you’re looking for a journal to get you started on this journey check out the journal I created. I made this to help make journaling easy and fun. Included is prompts to help you, space to doodle, and areas to help you keep your habits in check. I’d love if you’d check it out and let me know your thoughts!

Lastly, if you’re looking for ideas on what to journal about or how to lay out your bullet journal check out my Pinterest board here. I’m always pinning new prompts, doodling creations, and other amazing journal ideas. Also, let me know in the comments which type of journaling you prefer.

Pray this is a blessing! 

Although I’ve lived with mental illness my whole life, I am not a medical professional. You can find a therapist anywhere in the United States here. This post contains affiliate links. You can read my disclosure here.