Over the past few months, during the lockdown period I have been writing more than normal in my daily journal. I really enjoy it and often it helps to to be able to process the day gone by and take some time to reflect upon it.
This concentrated time has prompted me to have a look at what I really want to write down. Some days it is just a factual 'this is what I have done' type of entry, but more and more, I found myself wanting to think abut the positive things that were happening within my life to offset the negatives that I was hearing in the news each day. There is a recognised link between writing down gratitudes and positive mental health. For the past few years I have been an active journal writer, keeping a note of my 3 things every day, but in a regular diary with only a small space to write things down.
So I set my self a wee challenge to create a page for myself that I would enjoy filling in. I had several criteria that I wanted to fulfil. Structure and freedom in the same page. It needed to give me enough of a link to jot down what exercise (or amount of steps) I had done in the day. It needed space to create a positive affirmation that I would either use that day or the following day. Other things I wanted to include were the positive people I was with either in person, on a video call or on the phone. I wanted to acknowledge that there may have been challenges during the day, and allow me to retrospectively find a solution for them. Most of all I wanted to continue writing down my 3 things that I was grateful for or had enjoyed during the day.
So my journey to writing a gratitude journal started, initially purely for myself, but after chatting with a few friends and colleagues I have decided that I will publish it through Amazon KDP to allow others to access it as well. It has been a really interesting time. This is the first book that I have done all of the design work myself, and whilst I thought I knew how much went into organising gutters, margins and bleeds. It was inevitable far more involved than I had initially thought. However, it is finished now and the proofs have arrived, before being signed off by myself for print on demand through amazon. Another new experience in the publishing journey.
If you are interested in the journal you can get copies from amazon, link to follow, once it is published. I would love to hear your feedback, are there other things that you always write about? What makes you smile when you write?
If you decide to order any of my books through the link above on amazon, I may get a small affiliate fee. You can also order direct from myself. Happy reading.
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