SUBSCRIBE NOW

Enjoy all your local news and sports for less than 6¢ per day.

Subscribe Now or Log In

Life savers: Journals heal souls and hold heartfelt moments

Clintsy Young of Bluffton

Clintsy Young of Bluffton sits in the Lakeshore Library in Buchanan Dam with a pot of hot tea and a sampling of her journals. She decorates her own, covering black and white composition journals with decorative art paper. The one in the middle is a travel journal she created for a grandson who is about to graduate from college. She hid money in envelopes and pockets she created throughout the pages so he would be motivated to really look it over. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman

They come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and colors, and, like a best friend and confidante, you can tell them anything. Personal journals offer a safe outlet for expression without the risk of exposure or judgment, according to three members of a journaling group that meets at Lakeshore Library, 7346 RR 261 in Buchanan Dam. 

Through journaling, the trio has discovered they are reducing stress, clearing mental clutter, solidifying life goals, and helping themselves make better decisions. This is no accident. A study by the National Library of Medicine found that regular writing in a journal reduces mental distress and increases feelings of well-being. 

“Mine is a way to get my feelings out with no evaluation or criticism from someone else — unless I choose to share it,” said Joan Whistler of Kingsland. “And it’s a way to be creative. It’s something I can look back on and it makes me smile.”

Joan Whistler (left) of Kingsland and Melissa Macdougall, head librarian of Lakeshore Library
Joan Whistler (left) of Kingsland and Melissa Macdougall, head librarian of Lakeshore Library in Buchanan Dam, are members of a journaling group that meets monthly at the library. Whistler leans more toward art journals, while Macdougall mostly writes, including poetry. Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman

Lakeshore Head Librarian Melissa Macdougall started the group in January, and although it’s small, its members are avid and enthusiastic journalers. 

Madcougall first began journaling years ago when she took a notebook with her on walks and hikes to record nature, even in her own backyard. 

“I tried to do it in the moment,” she said. “I prefer that type of journaling to writing about it later, but it’s difficult to do in the moment.” 

She also creates artwork in journal format, but for the monthly meetings, she concentrates on writing. Sometimes she records thoughts and feelings or events in her life, and other times she works out lines of poetry. She prefers haiku, and when she opens to a page of verse, the reader can follow the author’s process.  

Clintsy Young of Bluffton turned to journaling when her husband died in 2020. She wrote down then what she would miss about him and turns to it now to help her remember what she loved most about her longtime spouse. 

“It’s relaxing, cathartic,” she said. “It’s a release.” 

She, too, mixes words with images and brings to each meeting a variety of journals and writing pens for experimentation. She also brings a pot of hot tea and a bit of chocolate, while Macdougall adds musical ambiance through the magic of a smartphone app. They share their work and discuss the process for about 30 minutes then spend the rest of the hour working in their journals. 

“Journaling helps me think through what’s going on in my life,” said Whistler, who is starting a gratitude journal. “I’m trying to focus more on the positives in my life. Sometimes I journal when things are sad or hard. I don’t want it to be solely that. I want it to be the good things I’m grateful for.” 

She also started a grief journal when her husband died 18 months ago. 

“It’s been therapeutic for me,” she said. “Even the grief journal has helped me get to a more positive place by releasing some of the negative things.”

All of their journals contain stories, memories, and feelings communicated page by page with handwritten sentences, computer printouts, drawings, doodles, photographs, and pictures and words cut and pasted from books and magazines. The women keep personal journals, garden journals, junk journals, art journals, grief journals, and gratitude journals. They even make some of the journals, bound with glue or string or snapped together in three-ring binders. Each serves a purpose for the person who created it. 

Joan Whistler's journal
Two pages in one of Joan Whistler’s art journals remind her of something funny that recently happened to her. She commemorated the day with joyful colors, a silly fish, and the words: ‘Don’t be afraid to be hilarious.’ Staff photo by Suzanne Freeman

Whistler leans more toward the illustrative while journaling, incorporating single words or short phrases that express a feeling or emotion and surrounding them with colorful images. In one art journal, she has the word “happiness” pasted on facing pages, one rendered in black and white and the other multicolor. 

“I’ve enjoyed doing this because it’s such a big variety,” she said. “It’s more about the art than about the words. I only think of it as a journal because it’s in a book.” 

A lively discussion ensues over the definition of a journal and the difference between it and a diary.

“Journaling is a personal practice of recording your life,” Macdougall said. 

“Feelings or events,” Whistler clarified. 

“Observations,” Macdougall added. 

“A diary is more day-to-day,” Young said. “It’s more truth or more of what’s happening. Journaling can be just thoughts. It doesn’t have to be something that happened. It can be about your dreams or your memories.” 

Usually a solitary exercise, journaling together has been inspirational for the Lakeshore Library group. Inspired by Young’s gardening journal, Whistler started one. 

Young was inspired by Macdougall’s beautiful artwork journals. Since she claims she can’t draw, Young has taken to embellishing her journal covers and pages with decorative paper, cutouts, and stamps, always leaving room to write. She buys black and white composition books and creates exquisite covers adorned with lace, feathers, ribbons, and rhinestones, even building accordion files and hidden pockets on inside pages. 

Along with her poetry and observations on life, Macdougall collects inspirational quotes and lines from the books she is reading (as a librarian, she reads a lot). 

“I enjoy the process of writing, of forming letters,” she said, adding that she prefers it to posting about her life on Facebook or Instagram. “Although, almost every day I look at Facebook memories. That was my journal for a time.”

In her current journal, she recently wrote down a Facebook memory that popped up on her smartphone, taking her full circle from the new world to the old — something to which she can turn even when the electricity is out or the internet is down.

Young uses both writing and art in her journals. She prefers fountain pens when writing and, at one meeting, brought some for the rest of the group to use. Her late husband collected them, so she had plenty. At another meeting, she brought art pens that the members used to roll decorative lines, boxes, and other shapes onto the pages. 

With all of the different approaches, each woman agreed that journaling has led them to focus on the positives in their lives and helped them overcome challenges. 

In fact, if Macdougall could change one thing about her life, she said it would be more journaling. 

“I would have kept a journal all my life,” she said. “It would help me look back on things, to remember experiences better. I wouldn’t do it for posterity, I’d do it for myself. I wish I had kept a journal since I first learned to write.” 

Another important life lesson learned: It’s never too late to start.

If you would like to join the journaling group, call Macdougall at 325-379-1174 to confirm meeting times and days and then show up with a pen and notebook in hand. 

suzanne@thepicayune.com