About Journal On It

Let's dig deep, write freely, and reflect boldly.

Author: Shannon

  • Junk Journal – Create the journal you have been dreaming of.

    Junk Journal – Create the journal you have been dreaming of.

     Intro

    Welcome to Journal on it, the podcast where we slow down, tune in and turn the page on the story we tell ourselves. I’m Shannon, and each week we explore the powerful practice of journaling and self-reflection to help you reconnect with your thoughts, your purpose, and your inner voice. Whether you’re new to journaling or you’ve got stacks of filled notebooks, this space is for anyone ready to grow, heal, and get honest one page at a time.

    Let’s take deep. Write freely and reflect boldly.

    Junk Journals

    Episode two junk journals. What is a junk journal? You’re probably asking if you’re not somebody who journals often. You’ve probably never even stumbled upon this. It is a creative journal style. What happens is. You from start to finish, create, and then fill a journal. And what I mean by create is you build the journal from scratch.

    Every single page you are putting together, people sometimes do this page by page and some people will actually go and make a signature or a group of pages and then turn them into a full blown after you’ve got a couple of those journal. This is a process that takes. Forever. But it is a beautiful piece once you’re completed.

    And I mean, it’s absolutely stunning. I’ve never seen one of these that wasn’t absolutely fabulous when it was finished. This is one of the most creative ways I have seen to journal. And the reason I say that is you are building it page by page, paragraph by paragraph into what you think. And what you feel in that moment.

    Pros

    Now you’re probably asking what are the pros and cons like I did last time? And a lot of the pros and cons will be the same because in the end, this does become an exceptionally decorated personal journal. But in addition to that, there are some other pros that I have found. Some of them being it is a creative outlet. It’s a place where you can get inspired to make something entirely new. Something from scratch and that can be a very relaxing and a very inspiring part of your day.

    Cons

    Now, for the biggest con when it comes to this style of journaling, and it’s one, I think everybody when they journal kind of comes across is this takes up a lot of space and a lot of time. And I mean in addition to the time it takes you to write, you are also taking time to create this journal from scratch before you even get to the writing, and that can be kind of difficult to deal with. The other part of it taking up space is you need supplies and I mean, a massive amount of supplies for this, you’re gonna need of course, everything you need to make the journal.

    Supplies

    So that’s pages, that’s the stuff to sew the pages. That’s the punches to make it so you can sew the pages. The whole shebang. Okay? All of that, in addition to everything you may wanna put inside of this from envelopes, stickers, uh, ephemera, if you haven’t heard of that, ephemera, is any kind of like older material that you’re gonna use to decorate it. A lot of people will go find.

    Old receipts, old vouchers, tickets, things of that nature to include in these. I know quite a few people who use rubber stamps who kind of like use distressing stuff to kind of make the pages look a little older than what they are. All of that takes up physical space in your area. If you’re like me and you just have a little desk that you do all of your journaling on that can take up almost all of it and leave you no space to actually write. And that would essentially defeat the purpose.

    Purpose

    I know some people, when they make these, they do actually turn them into gifts for their friends or their family. Um, there are people who actually sell these, so if you want to write in one of these, but you know, you don’t have the space or you don’t have the time to pour into this craft, uh, there are ways to acquire a junk journal, uh, in which you can write in from there.

    Like once you have it, I know most people have like little envelopes or little pages or pockets filled with little goodies, so there’s always plenty to kind of like dig into and play with. One of the other things I’ve seen people do with this style of journal is actually fill them entirely with decoration and use them as display or art pieces in their home.

    I find this to be absolutely brilliant. If you have the time and space to dedicate to filling one of these entirely with arts and decoration, I think they can be a beautiful centerpiece to either a bookshelf or a dining room table. Or a coffee table, something for people to flip through and enjoy. I think that this could be a really good piece for me personally, I have never created a full-blown junk journal.

    My Experience

    What I have done is taken inspiration and done like a series of pages that are junk journal in style. Where like I do the distressing where I’ve done stamps and I’ve decorated these pages to the max that I can while leaving space to write. I can’t say that I’ve done a full blown one. I do want to, I just don’t currently have the space to make that happen.

    But when I did do my little like sampling of junk journal in my like personal journal. I chose like six pages that were a little further out than where I was currently writing. And what I did is I made borders using stickers. I put envelopes and filled them with little things. Um, I did this right before a trip to Scotland and I filled it with all these little trinkets that I knew I wanted to, uh, take inspiration from.

    Like one of them was like a tiny little cow, ’cause I knew I was gonna see Highland cows and I put a bunch of cow stickers on those pages and I kind of used, at the time I was writing with a fountain pen that had like a reddish brown ink in it. And I used that ink to kind of make the outside of the pages look different, kind of give them a little aging, a little distress. Um, I actually, there was one where I cut the center of the page out and used it as like a frame for what was on the next page.

    Inspiration

    So there’s a lot of different ways you can do it, and there’s a whole bunch of people who do these beautiful ones. I will link below to one of my favorites. She has a Spotify podcast slash YouTube page, and she’s constantly putting out new content and everything she does is beautiful.

    So I think you’ll have a good time watching her or listening however you wish, but definitely like there’s so many ways you can go about doing it. In conclusion, I think junk journaling can be a really fun and creative addition to your journaling practice. I think it’s one of those things that can really enhance what you do and allow you to express what you are feeling and thinking in that moment.

    In a really creative and different way than most people think to do. So if you decide you want a junk journal or if you decide you wanna do a few pages like what I do, uh, feel free to let me know. Tell me what you think about it when you’re all done, and I look forward to seeing you guys soon.

    Outro

    Thanks for joining me on journal on It where we slow down. Tune in and turn the page together. If something resonated with you today, take a moment to journal it out and let the words lead you. You can find show notes, journal prompts and more at the link in the episode description. Remember, growth happens when Honest page at a time. Until next time, keep writing, keep reflecting and keep showing up for yourself.

    I’m Shannon and I’ll meet you back

    Music: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-whispering-vinyl-loops-lofi-beats-281193/

    Resources: https://artjournalist.com/what-is-a-junk-journal/

    What’s the Deal with Junk Journals?
    So… What Is A Junk Journal?
  • Personal Journal, where you dig deep to improve yourself.

    Personal Journal, where you dig deep to improve yourself.

    Personal Journal

    Welcome to Journal On It, the podcast where we slow down, tune in, and turn the page on the story we tell ourselves. I’m Shannon, and each week we explore the powerful practice of journaling and self-reflection to help you reconnect with your thoughts, your purpose, and your inner voice. Whether you’re new to journaling or you’ve got stacks of filled notebooks, this space is for anyone ready to grow, heal, and get honest, one page at a time. Let’s dig deep, write freely, and reflect boldly. (instrumental music plays) Episode 1 – Personal Journal.

    I figured we would, um, start here, mostly because this is where most people do start journaling. So I figured a personal journal would be probably the easiest gateway, I guess, into journaling. It’s the one you’re gonna see or think of the most.

    What is it?

    A personal journal is any way, be it an audio recording like this, a written notebook like what I use, or a digital app in which you record your personal feelings, thoughts, events, and on goings in your life. It’s your kind of personal record, your bookkeeping of you. But this isn’t written for anyone else. This is written for you and you alone, this isn’t a notebook or anything you’re going to pass on to your family or anything you’re going to want, like, archeologists in a thousand years to dig up. This is, like, your inner sanctum expressed. So first and foremost, know that a personal journal is for you. It’s where you’re gonna do all of your kind of thinking and processing and all of those things.

    Pros

    There’s a long list of known pros and cons to journaling. I personally believe that the pros far outweigh the cons, and as with most things in life, journaling should be done in moderation for what works for you.

    Some of the pros are it can help reduce your anxiety, lessen depression. It’s known to help you regulate your emotions, be they positive or negative. Journaling also known to help improve your personal growth, there are some scientific studies that say it actually has, physical health benefits, like lowering your blood pressure, increasing your, like, quality of sleep, less time spent in hospitals is one I saw a few times in my research. And I’ll have all of that linked down below, the scientific stuff and the, like, more opinion-based items. There were a few that said it also helps you stay at work more often, having less time, like, calling out, less time looking for work after you’ve lost your job and things like that. Um, so there’s a whole bunch of really good benefits to it.

    Cons

    Now, there are always some cons. One of the bigger ones is it can kind of make you overthink. It can get you kind of stuck in your head in a way that is hard to escape if you’re not cautious. If you are somebody with a larger ego, it can make you extremely self-obsessed, uh, and kinda eclipse your worldview. Be careful of those. It can also become, like, a place where you self-blame or self-isolate a lot, so you have to kinda balance it out. And then, one that I know that I’ve personally fallen, headfirst into, is becoming someone who considers, like, “Ooh, how am I gonna journal about this later?” Instead of, like, living in that moment, I’m already thinking about sitting at my desk later and writing everything down and what stickers I’m gonna use and things like that.

    So those are some of the, like, pros and cons there, and like I said, I’ll have a bunch of resources that I’ve used to gather that information listed below.

    My experience

    For me personally, I have been journaling for quite a while. Um, it started as a way for me to process emotions when I was going through some tough times, uh, struggling with personal relationships and finding stable work, and I just didn’t have a great outlet to alleviate the pressure, so to speak. Um, all of those emotions and thoughts built up, and I just needed, like, kind of a release valve. And I picked up a journal and started writing about all of that, and I noticed pretty quickly that having a stable outlet really helped me get it off my mind so I could actually think and focus on what I needed to do.

    How my practice has developed.

    Now, to be honest, my personal journal has developed a bit. It’s not just me writing every single day about what’s on my mind or what I’m thinking about. I use it every month. At the beginning of the month, I do what I call my habit spread or, like, my monthly spread, and it’s a couple of pages, usually, like, front and back or, like, two pages, like, side by side that I write out all of my goals, I write what habits I want to work on. If there’s anything big I have coming up, I’m gonna write it there.

    A peek inside my journal.

    Actually, I have my journal beside me, so I can open it up and tell you. Like, this month, one of my goals was to track my journaling, my skincare, and my meditation routines. My goals were to release the episodes of this podcast, keep up with doing the Instagram schedule I set, which is a minimum of three times a week, and do one nice thing for myself, and then I also have a mood tracker. This helps me. I do struggle with anxiety, so it helps me kind of monitor that and monitor what is happening in my, routine day. And then, of course, as you flip past that, I have my days that I’ve journaled. There’s a day in here where I did kind of like a junk journal page. And we’ll talk about that style of journaling.

    But it’s evolved into kind of this amalgamation of different styles of journaling, and I think that that’s where most people who journal often end up, is you find a couple of things that work really, really well for you, and you kind of combine them together. And I think that’s how a journal should work.

    But for me, I have pages of unsent letters, I have goals, I have days where I’m like, “I can’t think of anything to write, so I’m gonna do a prompt.” and then there’s this page is filled with stickers. And I’ve done pages of Zen-tangles, and if you haven’t looked those up, take a second, look it up. They’re really great. I have… Let’s see here. Of course, like, habit trackers. I have a whole page dedicated to, like, what I’m reading and when I’m reading it. That’s always a fun one to go back to. And my journal isn’t entirely chronological.

    My reminder to myself and journal beginning

    So I start at the beginning, always with a page to myself to remind myself that this is a place for me to express who I am, what I’m feeling, what I’m thinking. I am under no obligation at any point in time to share this part of myself. That’s always at the beginning of every single journal. And I mean it, every single one of them.

    And then from there, typically what I will do is, like, I have my long-term things, like I have a savings goal where, like, every time I hit the savings marker I, like, fill in a little section. Kind of like the, the Stitch, uh, badness level thing. If you’ve seen Lilo & Stitch, you know what I’m talking about. So I do that to save money. I also have, like, as I mentioned, my, my reading page, where, like, I go back to and it has all of my books that I’ve read, when I was reading them and things like that, and it tracks that kind of information.

    Monthly spreads.

    Then from there, you would usually almost immediately, whatever month I’m in at that time, you would see that monthly spread. Um, all of the smaller monthly goals that I’m tracking, the ones that don’t take as long. And I would go from there, obviously fill out my month, then usually there’s, like, an end of month recap, and then it would kind of repeat. But always, I end up kind of, flipping back and forth through it ’cause obviously at the beginning of the month is the big habit tracker for the month, and at the beginning it’s, like, my big yearly one. So there’s that.

    So now that we’ve talked about personal journals, uh, if you have one, tell me about yours. And if you don’t, tell me about what kind of journal you want to learn about, because there’s so many styles and types out there. I could probably fill hundreds of hours of audio on this, and I’d love to hear your opinions on what you want to hear next.

    Outro

    Thanks for joining me on Journal On It, where we slow down, tune in, and turn the page together. If something resonated with you today, take a moment to journal it out and let the words lead you. You can find show notes, journal prompts, and more at the link in the episode description. Remember, growth happens one honest page at a time. Until next time, keep writing, keep reflecting, and keep showing up for yourself. I’m Shannon, and I’ll meet you back here soon.

    Show Resources

    Music: https://pixabay.com/music/beats-whispering-vinyl-loops-lofi-beats-281193/

    Resources: https://positivepsychology.com/benefits-of-journaling/

    https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6305886

    https://www.verywellhealth.com/journaling-7498123

    https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/anger-in-the-age-entitlement/201309/the-good-and-the-bad-journaling

    https://connectedfamilyservices.com/blog/the-pros-and-cons-to-journaling

    https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content?ContentTypeID=1&ContentID=4552

    https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/journaling-isn-t-just-good-mental-health-it-might-also-ncna1114571

  • Journal on it – where we explore the powerful practice of journaling.

    Journal on it – where we explore the powerful practice of journaling.

    Hello

    My name is Shannon and I wanted to use my voice to create a place for people to explore journaling and learn how to use it to improve their lives. I plan on taking time to dive into different types of journal techniques and some of the benefits of them. Each week I will post a podcast with a transcript on Wednesdays. The blog will have some extra notes and links to where I found my information and all of my resources.

    My exploration

    I’ll also be talking about my personal experience with journaling and how it has helped me grow as a person. I spent years journaling and making mistakes before I could figure out what worked for me. I hope that by sharing what I have learned I will be able to help people explore journaling. Hopefully even jump start their journey to self improvement and discovery.

    This is all new to me just like journaling was once but we will learn together the ins and outs of podcast, blogging, and anything else that we find we need to make this happen. As I finish setting everything up you will be able to see this grow and hopefully grow with me.

    But in the meantime I hope you find a journal, notebook, or even app that lets you begin to express yourself freely. The podcast will be linked on the home page and so will any social media related to Journal on it. I’ll see you on the next page!