Want to Journal? 5 Reasons It’s Difficult to Begin

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Last week at Bible study, one of the women mentioned her habit of writing out prayers, thoughts, and events. Another woman asked, “Can you tell me more about your journal? What do you write and how do you organize it?”

These are common questions I’ve heard over the years. The subject of writing brings out a type of curiosity and yearning in many of us. Without always being able to articulate why, we intuitively recognize the value of writing.

In her book, The Right to Write, Julia Cameron gives us some concrete reasons why we should write.

“We should write because it is human nature to write. Writing claims our world. It makes it directly and specifically our own. We should write because humans are spiritual beings and writing is a powerful form of prayer and meditation…because writing is good for the soul…. We should write, above all, because we are writers, whether we call ourselves that or not.”

Julia Cameron, The Right to Write: An Invitation and Initiation Into the Writing Life

We’ve heard or read that journaling is a positive habit worth adopting, and still, something stops us from picking up the pen or popping open a blank document on the computer.

Why is it so hard to do something we want to do?

We've heard or read that journaling is a positive habit worth adopting, and still, something stops us from picking up the pen or popping open a blank document on the computer. Why is it so hard to do something we want to do? Share on X

At the beginning of Allison Fallon’s book, The Power of Writing It Down, she shares, “Most people go their whole lives without ever truly expressing themselves. We have stories to tell, ideas to share, dreams of the future, visions and versions of ourselves that want permission to live and breathe in the physical world, but we won’t let them.”

When we know why we’re having difficulty beginning, we can formulate solutions to make the on-ramp to writing smooth and effortless.

Here are five reasons it’s not always easy to begin a journaling habit.

1. Journaling isn’t an easy activity to categorize

What is journaling? Would you say it falls into the category of work, rest, or hobby?

It may fit into multiple categories or none of the above.

Writing can get lumped into that same amorphous category with things like exercising or updating your budget—activities we know are good for us but can be challenging to choose when stacked against tasks with a quick and obvious payoff.

The ways we can spend our energy and attention are endless, so unless we’re able to think of journaling as something worthy and necessary, we may struggle to make time and space for it.

Consider how you think of your personal writing time—as a means of reaching a dream or meeting a goal? a necessary wind-down practice to process your thoughts? a way to pray and connect with God? Journaling can serve multiple purposes in your life, but if you haven’t articulated at least one of them, you may struggle to begin.

2. The spiritual battle is real

I’ve been reading C.S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters lately. It’s a fictional account of how the servants of Satan attempt to undermine Christians and our walk with Christ.

At one point, this is how one demon instructs another.

“Keep them [Christians] busy in the nonessentials of life and invent innumerable schemes to occupy their minds… Over-stimulate their minds so that they cannot hear that still, small voice.”

The Screwtape Letters

We have an enemy, and he doesn’t want us to live an examined life. Taking time to evaluate our actions, motives, dreams, and desires in a posture of prayer is a defeat to the devil.

I know I’ve felt too busy to pray, too busy to consider God’s will for my day, and too busy to reflect on his word and how he would have me live.

But if we are to resist the devil and live a life devoted to Jesus, these are things we must prioritize.

It makes perfect sense that journaling in partnership with the Holy Spirit would feel like a challenge, but when we consider the reality of spiritual warfare, we see how essential it is to our spiritual and overall wellbeing.

Check out Ephesians 6:10-20 for more on the topic of spiritual warfare.

3. We don’t want to face our thoughts or emotions

Writing forces us to quiet all the distractions and acknowledge what is going on in our thoughts and emotions.

Distractions allow us to sidestep the issues we’d rather not think about.

From personal experience (and lots of other peoples’ experiences too), I can tell you that distracting yourself from your internal reality is only a temporary solution.

In order to find true, lasting peace, we have to bring all our stuff before God. We come to him as our counselor and pour it all out so that he can help us sort through it piece by piece, replace lies with truth, and fill us back up.

God knows you, loves you fiercely and desires to cover you with grace.

4. We’re not convinced it’s worth our energy

If you’ve found it difficult to start a journaling practice, ask yourself if you’re avoiding something. Journaling can be a tool for bringing about peace, growth, and gratitude, but it does require our time and energy.

Try proving to yourself that it’s worth the effort. Prayerfully journal for fifteen minutes and then evaluate how you felt before with how you feel after. Do you feel refreshed and more at rest? Do you feel more at peace even though nothing in your life has changed?

When we come aware of the positive impacts of journaling, we’re more likely to set aside the time for it.

5. We don’t have a plan

Imagine yourself preparing to write. Can you picture where you would sit? Can you see the tools you’d use and the time on the clock?

Now, imagine how you will feel after you finish writing. You’d probably stand up with a sense of accomplishment, gratitude, or satisfaction.

The start and finish are easy enough to picture. It’s the in-between part that trips us up.

What words do you start to type when faced with a blank screen and blinking cursor?

Do you record the events of your day like a journalist or reflect on your emotions?

What if nothing feels significant enough to spend time writing it down?

And how do we know which journaling topics will lead us to the results we want?

After years of trial and error, I’ve learned I need a template to make daily journaling possible. These daily prompts guide me through the topics I want to consider as I write, and the presence of an outline means I’m never faced with a blank page.

When I made my plan, I decided I wanted to focus on cultivating three things—a heart and mind at peace, contentment with my life and circumstances, and personal and spiritual growth. And I knew I wanted to do it in partnership with God through prayer.

If you have similar desires, be sure to download The Journaling Toolkit, my free gift to you. It contains a template, space to write, prompts to print and tuck or tape in your favorite notebook, a prayer to begin your journaling practice, and more! Get it here.

Even if your goals for writing are different than mine, I hope that by seeing how someone else made a journaling plan, you’ll be inspired to personalize your own plan. You can get all the details on how I made my plan in this post.

*Featured photo by Joshua Lewis on Unsplash