3 Ways I Use My Journal to Get Unstuck (& You Can Too!)

I'm going to spend precious time writing to you about how you can use these ways but then not doing them myself tonight. Do as I write, not as I do. 💌

My brain feels endlessly “on”. I feel endlessly “on”. I spend a lot of time in my head, letting things natter at me and ping around my brain all day long.

I talked to my husband tonight about how I specifically try to take roads where I can keep moving, rather than just sit at a red light - because I would rather constantly be in motion.

But then, there’s writing. Writing for me - however it looks - is always the thing that quiets my brain. Writing is always the thing that makes all the other big things & feelings real. Writing is always how I take my spinny thoughts and turn them into action steps.

When I start on a stress spin out, Dave will ask, “When was the last time you wrote?” and the answer is probably, “It’s been too long.”

Which is to say that 95% of the time when I’m feeling stuck at a red light in life (as maybe I am right now), I’m avoiding writing (as maybe I am right now). Why is the best thing for us almost always the thing we drop in the stuck period? Who knows.¹

But when I do sit down with a pen and a page, I’m probably journalling in one of these three ways.

1. Noticing / Data Tracking Pages:
   If I’m trying to implement a new habit or really notice how I feel about something², I’m moving to a noticing / data tracking page. Most often, this looks like writing down the date on a certain page and then taking note of everything that happened and writing down ideas I have for next time.
   
   The first time I experimented with this was for running, way back in 2020 & 2021. I would write down the date, where I ran, how long I ran for (distance & time), and anything about my body that I wanted to pay attention too, or anything I wanted to differently. It not only helped show me progress, but it was also helpful to pay attention to what I could change for next time.
   
   Recently, these pages made an appearance when I was making some changes to my morning routine. I would write down the date, and all the weays the changes to my morning routine were playing out during the day. Let me say - this was not long lived, but I loved it for the days I did it (which means it’ll make another appearance in the journal.)
   
   Most of all: for someone who lives in her head and is always actively trying to suppress her heart (lol), there’s something wonderful about taking a few minutes to notice and pay attention that gets me to be more present, instead of just diving into the doing.

   

   

2. Reminder Lists:
   These are very specifically not to-do lists, and it’s a category that’s very adjacent to Noticing / Data Tracking... but they’re lists that are just reminders for me.
   
   There are lists where I’ve written down almost everything I felt in a day.
   
   Lists where I’ve written down what I know to be true and what I can come back as always working for me.
   
   Lists where I’m writing down what I’m learning from others. One of my numbing habits is doing a deep dive on someone’s social media profile. Sometimes, I power-pivot this from numbing to, “I’m learning! I’m inspired!” so I legit make little reminder lists of what I liked & learned from their accounts.³
   
   Lists where I write down little habits and changes I could just try - because no one is keeping track of whether I do it perfectly except me, and I have a pretty low perfect bar. Plus, I’m not afraid to be caught trying.
   
   Again: it’s very specifically not a to-do list because I probably won’t do it all! But it does inspires me to action, or to take one step

   forward on something, or to let something go a little easier. And that’s all the reminder list is supposed to do.
   

   

3. The Get Unstuck Protocol
   When I’m feeling really stuck and overwhelmed, there’s one practice I come back to.
   
   I write down all the areas of my life I want to address, and I pare it down to 3-4.⁴ Let’s use my morning routine as an example.
   
   I take that area, and I write down what I’ve liked about past ways I’ve tackled that area of my life. My morning routines in the past have included things like running three times a week, going to different exercise classes in the morning, doing morning pages, reading, walking Pip first thing. There are things I’ve liked about some of those, and also, they’ve all fizzled & changed over different life seasons. Sometimes, just writing out what I’ve liked in the past helps me name what I’d like to implement right now.
   
   Next, I write out every single thing I find annoying, uncertain, hard, or road-blocky about it. Some of the things that popped up when I last reflected on my morning routine: my lack of decision and commitment to a routine because things feel uncertain, my lack of desire to do certain pieces of this, the amount of work I have to get done and how some of my best work comes when I’m not endlessly distracted by having co-workers on Slack.
   
   After I name as much as I can about the not ideal parts, I try to brainstorm ideas and solutions. In this case, I brainstormed an experiment — I’d work two weeks on 6 am - 2 pm schedule and then two weeks on an 8 am - 4 pm schedule and see how it went.⁵ I tried to name some ideal non-negotiables and how I could use some automations and systems to help out with this.
   
   I’m not there yet… but I can’t tell you how much relief I felt when I was done doing this for a couple areas of my life. Even if you wrote down some answers to “What is hard right now?” and “What can I do about that?” - I feel like you’d be setting yourself up for success.
   

   

4. BONUS: A Yes, No, Pause list.
   I believe

   Shauna Niequist
   writes about the concept of having a “yes” and “no” list in her book, Bittersweet. It’s as simple as it sounds - what are you saying yes to and no to? I forget if it was just for right now or for a season - but if I’m overwhelmed and need to pare down what I’m doing / clarify my thoughts on it, I’ll start a “yes, no, pause” list. It’s as simple as reflecting on what do I want to say yes, no, or just a brief pause to right now? It helps but don’t take my word for it - try it yourself!

If you use any of these and they are helpful in getting you unstuck, I’d love to hear in the comments! Maybe you’ll inspire me to you know, read my own Substack, take my own advice, and spend some time writing things out to get myself a little bit unstuck… but only time will tell.

1. Oh let me be clear - if you do know, I’m not in a space to hear it. My therapist already tried to tell me last week in subtle & not-subtle ways that I had abandoned a lot that had helped me in the past and I pretended this was brand new information I had never considered.

2. If you’re familiar with the Enneagram, I most closely align with a Three - which uh can mean I’m maybe a little distanced from my feelings, which is why we’re going to see a lot of this with me figuring out how I feel about something.

3. This could also be called, “How I Was Influenced” but I’m power pivoting. Maybe I give up participating in Day in the Life TikToks as a 2024 goal! HERE’S TO FINDING OUT.

4. Sometimes, I text

Lauren McHugh

and she pares it down to 3-4. I digress.

5. It’s been a month, I’m still working 6 am-ish to 2 pm-ish, I have yet to experiment with the 8 am - 4 pm schedule but maybe in December!