A Multi-Year Journal – watching the small changes add up
Have you ever looked at a photo of yourself and thought – wow – that was only a few months ago – I can’t believe how much longer my hair has gotten since then! It happens to me. A lot. We have trouble noticing the small daily changes, and only when we can reflect back on some sort of documentation of a previous period are we able to notice how much things have changed. For that reason I started keeping a multi-year journal several years ago.
What is a multi-year journal?
Perhaps just as important as what a multi-year journal is, is what it is not. It is not a place for you to process the big things in life and do deep dive self-exploration work. There is only room to write a few brief sentences for each day. The goal here is to capture a snapshot of your day – what stands out the most about the day.
Some of my entries are as mundane as “went to a great yoga class and cooked a yummy dinner”. Others cover bigger stuff like deaths and births, huge personal emotional moments and events (good and bad), vacations, anniversaries, and other things outside the normal everyday life.
Why keep a multi-year journal?
Many people who keep journals will tell you they learn so much about themselves going back and re-reading their journals. While I do not have a daily journaling habit at the moment, I do have journals filled with entries covering well over a decade. But here is my little secret, the idea of going back to re-read those entries feels beyond overwhelming to me.
I often process in my journals, and use these long entries as a way to get a lot of the tough, yucky, sticky stuff out of my head and body and onto the page. Not only does it feel overwhelming in volume, it also feels overwhelming in the level of emotionally charged material in those entries.
By contrast, a multi-year journal is a great opportunity to look at a snapshot of yourself as you progress over time. It is just a few short sentences (less volume) and ranges from the mundane to the major (it is not all heavy stuff).
Each night I review the previous year’s entries for the current day, add an entry to that day for the current year, and preview the entries for the next few days.
I have noticed three themes arise over and over in working with my multi-year journal:
- Wow – I can’t believe how much life has changed since then. This is a great way for me to see all the progress that has come from the hard work I have been putting in on self-work over the years. What might be tiny incremental changes really add up over time. When you read an entry and feel like it was written by a different person in a different lifetime that is a real indicator of your progress.
- Ugh – I can’t believe I am still falling into those same patterns of behavior. When I get this feeling reviewing my multi-year journal, it is a great time for me to do deeper reflection on the pattern(s) of behavior. If I keep repeating it but do not want to continue to engage in that behavior, it is time for me to dig in, find the story behind the behavior and get myself on a new path.
- Aha – that seems to be a recurring issue this time of year. This has been incredibly helpful in recognizing the way I deal with (and react to) seasonal shifts and changes. Sometimes the same theme will come up year after year on the same date, or it may cover a period of a week or a month. In either case, it is a great way for me to realize in advance that I might need a little extra support in some aspect of my life during that particular time period.
Why seven years?
An oft cited statistic is that it takes seven years to replace every single cell in the human body. (Although some cells are replaced hundreds of times in those seven years.) From a not-totally scientific viewpoint, that means that every seven years, we are an entirely new person than we were seven years before. (Some sources list ten years for complete cellular turn-over, but I am going to go with the seven year number – you can read more about the science behind the statistic here.)
For that reason, I chose to include seven years worth of lines in this journal. By the time you finish all seven years, you will be able to reflect back on the changes in your life knowing that they are not only mental and emotional but also down to the cellular level.
Printing your multi-year journal
This is my multi-year journal – started several years ago, each slip of paper represents one day, and they are all stored in a little box. When I reach the end of this journal, I will print a bound version for myself using the second option below.
I wanted to provide you with a dateless printable to help you get started with a multi-year journal. There is room for five days worth of entries on the sheet. I would suggest one of two options for printing:
Print on demand. You can print out pages using the Multi-Year Journal Dateless 2020 and Multi-Year Journal Dateless 2021 as you go, adding them to a notebook or binder as you print them out.
Or, have a year of pages printed and bound. You will need 73 copies to make a full year. Here is the Multi-Year Journal Dateless 2020, and here is the Multi-Year Journal Dateless 2021. (You will need to figure out how many of each you need based on when you print this out.) I would suggest having these printed at a copy and print shop and have them bind the prints with a comb or spiral binding. Use a heavier stock (at least 28lb) if printing double sided to prevent pens from bleeding through the paper. (Having this printed and bound at a copy shop should cost you under $15.)
I have designed this file in black and white to help minimize printing costs. Additionally, you may want to alternate pen colors between years to help differentiate between entries as the journal starts to fill up.
How to use a multi-year journal
For the first year, each day, add the month and day to the left of the years and write down what stands out to you most from the day – mundane to major, the goal is to capture a snapshot of the day.
A big part of this journal is self-reflection. Starting with the second year (and for each year following), before you finish the previous page, review the upcoming five days. Note if there are any major events, anniversaries, or themes (as you get further into the calendar) that you want to be prepared for in advance.
This is where the real magic comes in, by knowing five days out that you always seem to have a tough day on May 11th, you will be able to plan for extra self-care that day. I also really appreciate the opportunity to prepare myself for reminds of past events (especially difficult ones) before Facebook blindsides me with “in this day X years ago” messages.
And if you notice a pattern of behavior emerge that you would like to change, take advantage of the opportunity for deeper self-exploration. Get a journal that allows you to really write and explore your thoughts and feelings. If you need guidance, try doing work on core values, and radical self-honesty. Becoming aware of something is the first step in being able to change it.
The other big piece keeping a multi-year journal is consistency. Keep your multi-year journal somewhere you will be sure to add an entry every day. I find I am most successful at this when I place my journal beside my bed, next to my sleep mask so I can’t ignore it. This gives me the opportunity to add my daily entry and review the upcoming few days as part of my wind-down routine each evening.
Wishing you the perspective that comes from watching the little moments add up to big changes over time.
