Journal Writing Prompt 18 - Busy Life / Stress / Responsibilities

Let's face it - this must be one of the most common excuse for not journaling. People have jobs, families, hobbies, and other obligations. Most of the time it feels like we don't even have time to do what we need to do, let alone sit down and journal.

I picked this topic today, because currently I am going through incredibly busy period. That is saying something since my to-do lists are usually a mile long. But usually my busyness is self-made, whereas right now, there are more external factors outside my control. Most of the time my days seem to go in such a flurry of movement that it seems like blink of an eye between beginning of a Monday and ending of Sunday.

But here is the thing - I STILL JOURNAL.

Okay, admittedly I don't write pages after pages on most days. Though some days, I even do that. In fact, when I am incredibly busy it almost seems more necessary, because there are far more things going through my head and much less time to process them. So journaling means taking the time to clear my thoughts, reflect on what I am doing. As I said, I can't do it everyday, but I still manage to capture the highlights of my day.

So here is an assignment for you - no matter how busy you are, take few minutes to write in your journal. Write about your day. Write about what is keeping you busy. If you can't seem to focus on your thoughts because your brain is scattered all over the place, then write about all the things that you are doing, thinking. Even if it is mere fragments of thoughts going through head, and they make no sense. It doesn't matter. Write. Journal. Capture those thoughts.

If you are stressed - what is stressing you out? You may not find all the answers right now, and that's okay. At least you will know the causes.

Responsibilities - are your burdened by them? Perhaps you wouldn't even want to admit that it is a burden. Very well, but you are shouldering those responsibilities nonetheless. What are they? What do you HAVE to do? And now here is the interesting bit ....what IF ...you didn't do it? That's right. Go ahead. Speculate. What will happen? This will either show you the importance of what you are doing (in which case, hurray to you, and feel empowered for having this power over something), or make you realise that you could either stop doing this or delegate it.

So go ahead and journal. Your days may be busy, but make sure that your life is still productively busy, not merely stagnant.