Stop Wasting Weekends Presents:

Outdoor Adventure Journal Challenge! – Day Three

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Journal Writing

Always remember that your journal is YOUR JOURNAL.  And your journal writing is YOUR JOURNAL WRITING.

But wait, before you start, have you read the first two days of this challenge?

• You know WHY you need to create and Outdoor Adventure Journal. 
• Supplies You Need to Get Started with Your Outdoor Adventure Journal (this one is super important!)

Ok, if you have read those, you are good to go!

And also always remember that you are in very good company, my friend.  Marcus Aurelius, Seneca, Raymond Carver, John Cheever, Herman Miller, Vladimir Nabokov, Sylvia Plath and Virginia Woolf all wrote in journals.  Now, you are part of that club!

As you go back through your journals, they will bring up old memories, and be similar to scrapbooks, but emotional scrapbooks!

Journal writing is often like therapy.  You can release your emotions and feelings through writing, and also find out so much more about yourself than you ever knew.

A wonderful example of the simpliest journal ever (just in a notebook) can be found in this brilliant article.   Benjamin Hardy writes:  Of all the things that have been helpful to me in personal growth and goal achievement, using my journal daily is at the foundation. Writing in my journal every single day is the glue that holds everything else together. My journal is the context for my dreams. It’s my favorite place to be. It’s where the mental creation happens. And because my mental creation recurs on a daily basis within my journal, the physical creation is organic. It’s simple.” 

Again, as noted in this Very Well Mind article, “Research studies have revealed the numerous benefits of journaling. One of the most studied aspects of journal writing pertains to its healing effects. It has been determined that those who keep a journal are more likely to be connected to their emotions and problem-solving skills. Keeping a journal has also been found to help a person relieve stress, let go of negativity, refocus on gratitude, and work through difficult emotions and circumstances.”

Getting Started with Journal Writing

There are a million different kinds of styles and purposes for a journal, and your Outdoor Adventure Journal is no exception!  A bullet journal at its core, was originally intended to be a planner, but even this activity has turned into so much more.  A bullet journal is a way to organize your life, make sure you get things accomplished, record and somehow memorialize those accomplishments, relax and be creative, and even dream about the future.  A place to memorialize the past, organize your present, and dream about your future.  Everything from daily water intake, managing chronic pain, watercolor art, weekly planners, dream vacation planning, can be captured.

Some journals are fairly simple and minimalistic.  Other bullet journals are creative and filled with the artist’s own drawings and paintings.  Still others use washi tape and stickers to make their pages colorful.  Hand drawn lettering is hot right now, and many people use this as a creative outlet for different techniques they learn.

Whether you use your Outdoor Adventure Journal as a functional space for organizing your life, or as a place to record and memorialize all the bits and pieces of your daily life in an artistic way, draw and record what you see in nature, or use watercolors to paint what you see in the great outdoors, there is simply no wrong way to have an Outdoor Adventure Journal.

While we will go into more detail about resources you can use to get started with your journal, and also creative journal ideas for your Outdoor Adventure Journal, the most important question to ask yourself as you are working and enjoying your journal is:

Does Your Journal Work For You?

Does it work for you?  Does it?  Don’t write or draw or create anything that does not bring you joy!  Some ideas of where to start would include:

• Take your nature journal with you whenever you head out on an adventure.
• Write, draw and/or paint in it to record experiences with nature. Don’t forget to date entries!
• Write thoughts, feelings, ideas, observations, experiences, and relationship with the natural world.
• Encourage your child to choose something to focus on and draw or paint: a flower, a tree, a bug, a bird, etc. If you child is too young to write, you can let them draw and then write down what they tell you – no editing – this is their journal.
• Add poetry or quotes that are meaningful to you and related to your experience with nature.
• Place, trace, or press the nature specimens you collect inside of it.
• Print out the free printable templates found below for specific observations and activities.

Again, we will go into much more detail about resources for an Outdoor Adventure Journal (including VIDEOS!) and also a huge amount of creative journal ideas and writing prompts, but for now, just start thinking about what it is that you truly want to express creatively, or need to have to organize your life.

The great thing is, that these can all be located in the SAME Outdoor Adventure Journal.  So let’s get started!

Index Pages

These pages are essential to your Outdoor Adventure Journal.  Its the roadmap that allows you to make a million different kinds of pages in one journal, and still have it be a cohesive journal.

Every time you make a new page, you just create a new page on your index sheet.  None of them have to relate in any way, and it’s the best way to keep track of all the different pages you have, and their purposes.

Secret Journal Writing Tip

If you are writing in your Outdoor Adventure Journal, but also want to include weekly to do lists, or habit trackers, perhaps you don’t want to create these yourself!  You can easily print ones out and then use double sided tape rollers to include them in your journals!!! It’s not cheating, I promise!

I have the ones listed below in the Van Adieu Vault, (plus even more!!!) which you can access by becoming a member of the Van Adieu Crew and getting exclusive access! 

If you are already a member of the Van Adieu Crew, then thank you! And you can just get all of these in the Van Adieu Vault! 

Want to know how to make the cute ones at the end stickers, simply and easily with materials you have around the house? Check this out!

Final Important Logistics

As you start to create your Outdoor Adventure Journal, just remember to follow these important guidelines!

• Always date your journal writings/entries/paintings/to-do lists, etc.
• Keep it private
• Set a schedule to write, draw and create
• Title your entries for easier reference in the Index
• Make your Journal Writing HONEST.
• Realize your hand lettering, drawing, painting, journaling will change and improve over time!  Just enjoy yourself!
• Always look at others creative journals for inspiration!

Ready for more inspiration and resources?  Check out a TON of Resources and Inspiration to get you going in the right direction!  Plus, check out some amazing journal prompts and journal ideas (There are almost 200!)

The fun of actually making your Outdoor Adventure Journal is about to start!

Adieu for now!