How to Organize Your Virtual Journal!

Whether it is to rant about something bad that happened or to document a really good day, I spend most nights before bed reflecting on my day by writing in a journal in my Notes app on my phone.

Not only does having a virtual journal on my phone work for me as a more comfortable ranting space, it also has endless pages-- and I can lock it. I used to keep a physical journal on my nightstand at my bedside. As I got older and as the phone became more centric in my everyday life, I became a fast typer-- so this just works best for me but you can use this set-up in your regular journal too-- it is up to you.

If you know me, you know I can really overthink things-- therefore, I have an infinite amount of sections in my journal after using it for a couple years. I am going to show you the main few sections that I find the most useful and use most often. I have recommended this style of journaling to several of my friends and many of them liked right away or grown to really like it.

Let's get to it.

In the first section, I have a few health goals bulleted that I want to keep at the front of my mind. As I come up with more important small sections or things I want to remember, I add those under this, before the next section.

Next, I have my "feelings" section. I like to keep this towards the top because this is the part I use the most. I label each day with the date and a dash, then talk about my day. Sometimes the journal will be a couple words, other days it could be a short novel. It doesn't matter how good or bad my day was, writing in here helps me clear my mind and vent about things going on in my life. I know I always have people that I could talk to but nobody understands how I am feeling like I do-- that is part of why journaling is so effective.

Next, I have some daily affirmations that I like to read out loud. I don't do this all the time but when I do, I feel really confident and encouraged afterward.

For these next two sections, I don't write in them every day, but I try to frequently add to them when I have time. I have a section for positive thoughts. In this section I put the date, then something that applied to the date that is a little confidence booster. Such as, "you are a hard worker" or "you are confident."

After that, I have a section for adding one achievable goal for each day. Whether it's going for a 5 minute walk or participating in a class I have a tough time engaging in, it is fun to make small daily goals-- especially when you are feeling low on motivation. Even if you don't write it down or keep track of it like I do, it is something to think about :)

Last but not least, is the section called "15 seconds I never want to forget." Keeping track of small moments where I felt really present helps me appreciate the small things. When I am feeling down or low on motivation, I read over these moments and almost relive them because they were so vivid and real. The best part about this is that I only remember how I was feeling in that moment. It is not just the whole day-- or how I was feeling, they are small events that I can re-feel when I think about them.

I hope this inspires you to start a virtual journal and gives you some ideas for how to organize it-- even if you are not consistent with it, it really is helpful to vent somewhere private and convenient. I find when I am more consistent with it, I tend to have more productive days. Even if you only take two minutes every night to write a few highlights from your day down, I strongly recommend it.

Thanks for reading!

XOXO,

- Lexi

Insta: @Lexi_Vincento & @Unlimited.Daylight