WELLNESS: DOING THE WRITE THING

In our quest for overall health and increased focus on self-care, we’ve really dug deep to explore what that looks like for us. One of the things we’ve found most profoundly powerful is journaling. 

Many of you ladies may already be doing this on the regular, which is wonderful – and feel free to comment, sharing any tips, tricks, favorite products, etc.! But for those who have perhaps lapsed in the habit or never really took it up in the first place, we are encouraging (dare we say, challenging?) you to give it a try. Commit five minutes a day for the rest of the month to just putting a little pen to paper – you won’t regret it!

Here are a few fun tips and bits of guidance to help you get started:

• PICK PRODUCTS THAT INSPIRE YOU. If being on a team of creatives has taught us anything, it’s that everyone has their own preferences – nay, requirements – for writing materials. Cheryl carts around a 12x24” peel-a-page notepad. Audrey has every shade of PaperMate felt pen ever made. Halley insists on graph paper and Tumi UltraFine pens. Mitchell “has an app for that.” While a journal is a little more of a commitment than your everyday jot-downs, having pens/pencils and paper products that excite you will provide their own kind of incentive to put pen to paper. (Bonus if it’s beautiful and you can leave it out! You’re more likely to do it consistently if you see it every day.)
• WRITE WHATEVER YOU WANT. We personally started with a gratitude journal because that was an area of our mental health we felt we needed focus. (In a high-pace, heavy-volume industry, it’s easy to get swirled up in what’s NOT going our way and not pause to focus on all the wonderful that IS getting accomplished.) But your journal can be any type that appeals to you and your area of improvement. Maybe it’s affirmations. Maybe it’s a forgiveness journal, pledging forgiveness for others and yourself. Maybe it’s simply archival, things that you did or things that happened to you that day, for posterity or to track your habits. Whatever it is, taking that 5 minutes a day to sit with your thoughts and get them down is intentional, mindful, and cathartic.
• TAKE THE TIME. Life’s a hustle and bustle and the thought of putting one more thing on your daily task list can feel like an impossible task, but we can attest to it being absolutely worth it – and we promise you can find 5 minutes. Until you’ve firmly established the habit, set yourself a reminder on your phone at a time of day that feels right for you. With your morning coffee, right before bed, mid-day when you need a little brain break. And then, if you’re like us and tend to get carried away, try setting a timer as well; there’s nothing wrong with journaling for half an hour, but if it taking up that much time every day is going to be a deterrent from getting started, force yourself to keep it quick.

HAPPY JOURNALING! Let us know how it goes!