Why I Keep a Journal...

I did write this for a friend of mine, but life gets a little busy, so it never got published...so I thought I'd share with you guys why I keep a journal..and some pages of past journals of mine.

I'm a young mother of two very personality driven little ones, I'm an artist, a writer a crafter..and an avid journal keeper...
here is my story...

(A page from my overnight stay in taipei, even for just the night, it is etched into my mind as the night I was a little bit wild.)



I remember my first journal, it came wrapped up in Christmas paper, tagged love nanna, it was a little square journal with a fairy on the front cover, and a little padlock. It was from then on, I kept a journal. These pages held my life in them, from my first crush, to graduation, to getting accepted into uni, to my life in England, marriage, parenthood, divorce, and finding myself again. They have comforted me through many many journeys of the soul.

(a double spread made on the inside cover of a french notebook given to me by a dear friend, this book needed alot of putting back together she was used so much)


Pages of ink, a lifetime supply of pens used, and several life changing moments captured. I love the fact that I can pinpoint the moment I realized I was pregnant with my first son, I had written that I wasn't feeling very well and was unsure why. Later that week I found out I was pregnant. Those are the things, that make my heart sing knowing I have that little tid-bit recorded.

(my leather journal in the above photo, I got as a birthday present from my Mum, soon became my absolute favourite journal and one of the reason I want to be a bookbinder. I turned the signatures into chapters of my year...living in England brought about the depression from lack of sunlight)

(The cover of my french notebook. inked and written all over, she holds such memories.)

As I've grown, my journals have evolved with me, going from little girl diary, to a young woman's journal, to my way of expressing myself with not just words..but with art as well.
I have always said, my journals will be passed down to my kids, for if I died tomorrow at least they would know things about me I would never get around to telling them myself.

(the journal that stole my heart...this is the front cover of her. )

(This journal kept collections of notes, cut outs photographs everything about my time in England, even though it was one of my most unhappiest journals written content wise, it helped me to keep myself from the dark dark hole that I was slowly falling into)

A journal is a life's work, and I don't think I could stop even if I tried. My handbag is much too light if my journal isn't tucked in inside it. You can feel the gap, where it should be. and to quote Anais Nin:-

''My diary is a mirror telling the story of a dreamer who, a long long time ago went through life the way one reads a book.''
Keep a journal, your future self will thank you for it.


thanks for stopping by
why do you journal?
x Courtney