keeping a record

I've been thinking a lot about my journals lately. Journal(s), you ask?

Yes. Journals.

I have many.

I actually started keeping a personal journal when I was 8 or so, and I wrote basically every single day until I was married. (Seeing my awful elementary spelling errors and re-reading about my middle school crushes can be quite hilarious!) Getting married, sigh, just threw some of my deeply rooted personal habits out the window. Kinda sad, huh? It's important not to lose ourselves, even if we are part of a team for the rest of our lives (and eternity!). So, I vow to continue keeping my journals.

If I could create a visual for you (if I had the time), I would. I would stack my various journals one on top of each other, and the pile would be at least a foot tall, maybe two feet.

Some journals I keep:

• this blog
• the new Movin Mommas blog
  
• a personal journal (which I wrote in last night for the first time since May 2008 -- so sad)
• a medical journal (all my insurance statements go in a pile and I transcribe the what, when, why, and how, etc. of all my illnesses)
• a gratitude journal (just a bulleted list of all sorts of things I'm thankful for)
• a Wesley memory book (it's basically a big letter to him, full of memories and feelings and love)
• a spiritual journal (where I record my powerful and strong spiritual experiences, those that show me without a doubt that I am a Child of God and the Lord is looking out for me and loves me)
• a Family History journal (so when I work on my genealogy, I write what I've discovered and what I've been working on so I can pick up from the same place the next time)
  

I also am starting to keep an online workout log, but that doesn't count as a journal. It's through my insurance's Web site, and I can record food intake, exercise, and stress levels.

A pretty long list, huh?

I don't know what it is, but I love writing my thoughts down. I guess I feel like my mind is crazy full (too much going on!) and it feels good to record things. Whenever I want to work on something, my first thought is, "Make a list. Keep a journal. Write it down." The power of writing something down just can't be denied. When I want to be more healthy, I write down my goals and rules. When I have a million things to do, I make lists. When I need to clear my brain of all the stuff that has happened, I write a journal entry. I feel like then I can forget it, because it's there if I need it.

It's therapeutic, really.

Want to hear something funny? Once my mom was thinking about something, about one summer when she thought we went on this vacation or had that adventure, and she wasn't sure if my brother had done something or if something had happened that particular summer, and it was driving her crazy. So she actually called me and asked me to look in my journal for that summer and tell her if she was right or wrong. Isn't that funny? I was the family record!!

That feels cool.

Anyway, I want to be better about keeping my journals. I've made it one of my goals for 2010. As much as I love this blog, I need to make sure I also have the time to write in my personal journals. There I record things I won't even tell you guys! Hahaha. And sometimes we all need that private, personal outlet.

I hope you have an outlet, too, somewhere, somehow, to keep your thoughts. Our minds are our own, one of the only things we have that is truly our own.

(What are the journals you keep? Anything fun?)