What's in a Journal?

I bought another note book, I couldn't help it, it is fluffy and the cover is decorated with embroidered baubles like a Christmas tree. Of course I could use this to plan for various Christmas activities like recipes, gifts to buy, markets to visit, all manner of festivities. However, I have decided not to follow expectations so, this lovely new book will become a journal. All I need now is a suitably fun pen to complete the set and I will be good to go. 

Truly, I have no idea what a journal is. What do you do with it, do you read it back, is it like a diary? How often am I meant to write in it, am I supposed to write about my day at my desk, what if I didn't feel anything in particular, then what do I do? I worry I might be overthinking it. I've researched the topic online but nothing speaks to me, nothing that I have seen has given me that spark of inspiration, that sudden 'I know exactly what to do' feeling. 

According to the Cambridge Dictionary, journaling is 'the act of writing what you have done each day, sometimes including your thoughts, feelings and goals.' In that case, it's a place to reflect on how far I have come and to plan where I want to go, and the choice is mine whether to make this a rigid process or a more free flowing creative write in it whenever I'm in the mood sort of process. All that time spent worrying, scrolling, reading articles, and it turns out a good old fashioned dictionary held the answers all along!

Now that I've decided to see what journals are all about, I guess the only thing left to do is give it a whirl. Get out of my head and stop over-complicating the issue. Random thoughts like "Why can't I write in the first page of a book" it feels wrong for some reason, or "Is time a concept or a construct" which always leaves me with a headache, or "Why do I sometimes have the urge to run down a corridor in a tulle skirt billowing in the wind" am I recalling memories from a past life, who knows. A journal is a chance to explore each of the thoughts that pop into my head. To contemplate what makes me tick, why I think the way I do, take these ideas that I have and dig away at them piece by piece until the answers reveal themselves to me.

It's time to put whatever is weighing on my mind to paper. I won't know what I'm doing until I try after all. Who knows, it could release a sudden burst of creativity from within me that I didn't know existed. I could be a prodigy for all I know. I will approach this with the belief that inspiration comes from within, it will be fulfilling to embrace my own imagination. Let it run wild, do what works for me and see where it takes me!