For Christmas in 2018, my mom gave me an everyday journal. She said I should use it to document the life of my then-unborn child as he grew. I’d seen these before because one of my old roommates back in New York (2010ish) used one. She’d occasionally tell us at dinner what we had been up to a year or two ago on that exact date.
You see an everyday journal is slightly different from a standard journal. Rather than a notebook where you write in-depth and in detail, an everyday journal is all about the brief snapshot of your day. It’s a pocket-sized book that has every day of the year predated. It then gives you five spaces on the page to write a short blurb or description of your day. The one that I use is subtitled “a five-year memory book” meant to give you a look back in time over time.
These short-form journals are also called one line a day journals, bullet journals, or five-minute journals. You can find them both with or without prompts. This one is specifically for moms looking to document the lives of their children. This one is specific for health and wellness journeys.
It’s the ideal type of journal for someone like me. I want to remember special moments but I’ve never been able to make journaling a habit. I’ve started countless times only to stop after a month or so.
This time has been different. I’ve actually kept it up. And not just because I had a brand new life to document. There’s no stress about details, no worries about missing a day. Since my everyday journal is so small, I leave it on the corner of the kitchen counter that catches mail. It’s the last place I stop before heading to bed at night. And since it’s not asking for details, I’m able to quickly catch up if I miss a day or two. If you are anything like me and can’t ever get into journaling, try one of these.
And the reward has been very fun as well. I shared on my Instagram that it’s been a year since Teddy first slept through the night. How did I remember that? It was noted in my journal (with many exclamation marks). A year ago today (May 12th)? It was my first Mother’s Day.
These one-liner journals have been around a while. BuzzFeed has an article from 2017 about them that summarizes my thoughts on the rewards of keeping these quick and little journals. That they are a book that carries a snapshot of your life in a way that pictures can’t quite capture.
Get one of these for yourself and just start jotting down a little something that happened every day. Within a year or so you’ll be happy that you started.
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