My journaling system that actually works
It doesn’t matter if I woke up feeling amazing or terrible. Whether the day ahead looks easy or overwhelming. The pages will be there, waiting.
Three years ago, I picked up a pen first thing in the morning and started writing. Just three pages. No rules, no structure, no expectations. Just whatever spilled out of my head onto paper.
I didn’t plan for it to become a habit. I wasn’t trying to be disciplined. I just did it. And then I did it again. And again.
Three years later, I still do it.
Of course, I’ve missed days, maybe five or six in a year, usually when I’m traveling or when life pulls me in a direction where writing isn’t possible. But that’s the thing: morning pages aren’t an obligation. They’re a rhythm. A ritual. A part of me.
What Are Morning Pages?
If you’re unfamiliar, morning pages come from The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. The idea is simple:
🌻 First thing in the morning, before your brain is fully awake, write three pages by hand.
🌻 No editing. No filtering. No thinking too much.
🌻 Just let your thoughts spill out, however messy, boring, or repetitive they may be.
It’s not journaling in the traditional sense. It’s more like a mental decluttering. A brain dump. A way to clear out the noise so you can hear yourself better.
Why Do I Still Do It?
A habit that sticks for three years isn’t just a habit, it’s a necessity.
Here’s why morning pages became something I want to do, not something I have to do.
1. They Give Me a Sense of Stability
No matter how unpredictable my day is, I know one thing for sure: I will write in the morning. It doesn’t matter if I woke up feeling amazing or terrible. Whether the day ahead looks easy or overwhelming. The pages will be there, waiting.
Morning pages are my anchor.
2. They Make Space for Honesty
There’s no audience. No pressure to sound smart or wise or even coherent. It’s just me and the page. Which means I can be brutally honest.
🌻 If I’m anxious about something, I write it down.
🌻 If I’m stuck on a decision, I ramble through all the possibilities.
🌻 If I’m mad, I let myself rant without holding back.
And in that process, things that felt huge become smaller. Problems that seemed tangled start to unravel.
3. They Quiet the Inner Critic
Morning pages don’t have to be good. No one will read them. They are allowed to be:
🌻 Boring
🌻 Repetitive
🌻 Whiny
🌻 Chaotic
🌻 Nonsense
And that’s the point. When you remove the pressure to write something meaningful, writing becomes effortless. And over time, that freedom spills into other areas like, creative work, deciding for something, or even self-talk.
The perfectionist in me gets quieter when I remind myself: It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be done.
4. They Help Me Notice Patterns
When you write every day, patterns emerge.
🌻 The same worries pop up over and over again, showing me where my fears are rooted.
🌻 Certain ideas keep resurfacing, proving that maybe they’re worth paying attention to.
🌻 My moods follow cycles I wouldn’t have noticed otherwise.
Morning pages give me perspective. They let me zoom out and see myself more clearly.
What’s Changed After Three Years?
When I first started, I was rigid about it. I had to write exactly three pages. I had to do it every single day. It had to be first thing in the morning.
Now, I’m softer about it. More intuitive.
🌻 Some days, I stop at one page because that’s all I need.
🌻 Some days, I write five because my brain won’t shut up.
🌻 Some days, I skip it entirely, and that’s okay.
I no longer treat it as a rule. It’s a habit, but one that adapts to me, not the other way around.
And somehow, that flexibility makes it even stronger.
Do Morning Pages Work?
If by “work” you mean “solve all your problems and make life easy,” then no.
But if you mean:
🌻 Do they make your thoughts clearer? Yes.
🌻 Do they help you become more self-aware? Absolutely.
🌻 Do they help you develop creative ideas you wouldn’t have found otherwise? 100%.
The effects aren’t always obvious. Some days, they feel pointless. But then, a few months later, you look back at your old pages and realize Oh. That’s where my mindset started to shift.
And that alone makes them worth it.
How to Start (and Actually Stick With It)
If you want to try morning pages but don’t know where to start, here’s what helps:
🌻 Don’t overthink it. Write whatever is in your head, even if it’s “I have nothing to say.”
🌻 Make it easy. Keep your journal next to your bed. Remove friction.
🌻 Write by hand. Typing is fine, but there’s something about handwriting that slows your thoughts down in the best way.
🌻 Forget structure. Bullet points? Full sentences? Messy scribbles? All good. Just write.
🌻 Let go of expectations. Some days will feel profound. Some will feel like garbage. It doesn’t matter. The point is to show up.
Three Years In, and I’m Still Writing
There are very few things I’ve done consistently for three years. But morning pages? They stuck.
Because they’re not just a practice. They’re a conversation with myself, with my thoughts, with the version of me who sat down on that first morning and decided to begin.
And if there’s one thing I know for sure, it’s this:
I’m not stopping anytime soon. 🌻
Ciao,
Fathima