“You don’t need to know where the story is going before you write the first page.”
Your first journal does not need a grand opening ceremony, it just needs a beginning.
First Things First: There Is No Perfect Way to Begin
Let’s get something out of the way, there is no universally correct first journal entry.
Your first entry doesn’t need to be profound, it doesn’t need to sound like a published author, it doesn’t need to reveal your deepest secrets and it doesn’t even need to make sense.
Your journal is a place for you to think, so give yourself permission to begin badly.
This may actually be one of the most important journaling skills you ever develop. The ability to begin before you feel ready.
Step 1: Choose Your Journal
This is where many people become unnecessarily complicated. You don’t need the perfect journal, you need a journal you will use.
It can be:
A notebook.
A diary.
A digital document.
A journaling app.
A collection of loose pages.
A notes app on your phone.
A combination of paper and digital.
Remember our previous discussion about paper versus digital? The format matters far less than the habit.
However, there is one useful rule: Choose something that makes you want to return to it.
If beautiful stationery makes you excited to write, get something beautiful.
If practicality matters more, choose something simple.
If you’re always carrying your phone, digital may be the easiest option.
Your journal doesn’t need to impress anyone, it needs to work for you.
Step 2: Give Your Journal a Purpose
Before you start writing, ask yourself: Why am I keeping this journal?
You don’t need one permanent answer, your reason can change.
Perhaps you want to understand yourself better.
Perhaps you want to document your life.
Perhaps you’re going through a major transition.
Perhaps you’re trying to build a business.
Perhaps you want to preserve family memories.
Perhaps you simply need somewhere to put thoughts you don’t know what to do with.
Your journal could even have several purposes, but knowing what you’re hoping to get from it can make journaling much easier.
For example:
“I want to understand myself.”
Your entries may focus heavily on thoughts, emotions and decisions.
“I want to document my life.”
You may record experiences, people, places and important moments.
“I want to preserve my family history.”
You may write about childhood, parents, grandparents, traditions and memories.
“I want to become more intentional.”
You may record goals, habits, decisions and reflections.
“I simply need somewhere to talk.”
Then talk, your journal is listening.
Step 3: Name Your Journal
This is completely optional, but it can be surprisingly fun. Instead of thinking of your journal as an object, think of it as a space.
You could call it:
The Archive
My Becoming
Notes to Myself
The Quiet Room
The Things I Don’t Say
Chapter One
Dear Future Me
The Lagos Years
Life, As I Remember It
Or something completely ridiculous that only makes sense to you, you don’t need to show anybody.
Naming your journal can make it feel less like homework and more like a relationship.
Step 4: Decide How Private It Will Be
This is important.
Before you start writing honestly, decide what level of privacy you need. If it’s a physical journal, think about where you will keep it, and if it’s digital, consider passwords, device security and backups.
Also decide on:
Do I intend this journal to remain private?
Or:
Could parts of it eventually be shared?
There is no wrong answer.
A private journal gives you enormous freedom, but if you are deliberately documenting your life with the possibility of eventually creating a memoir, you may want to become comfortable preserving dates, names, places and important context.
Step 5: Start With the Date
This sounds ridiculously simple.
Do it anyway.
Write the date: 11 September 2026
Then, if you want, add:
Location
Time
Weather
Mood
These little details may seem insignificant today. Years from now, they can become surprisingly valuable.
Imagine reading an entry twenty years later and knowing not only what happened, but where you were sitting when you wrote it. A date turns a thought into a historical record.
Step 6: Write About Why You Started
If you have absolutely no idea what to write, start here.
Tell your future self: Why did I start this journal?
You might write:
“I bought this journal because I’ve been feeling like my thoughts are constantly racing and I need somewhere to put them.”
Or:
“I have just started university and I want to remember what these years actually felt like.”
Or:
“I’m starting this because I don’t want to forget what building my business from nothing felt like.”
Or:
“I don’t really know why I’m doing this. I just feel like I need somewhere to talk without someone interrupting me.”
That is a perfectly good first entry.
Step 7: Introduce Yourself to Your Future Self
This is one of my favourite ways to begin. Pretend your future self has discovered the journal years from now. What would you want that person to know about you?
Tell them:
Who you are.
How old you are.
Where you live.
What you’re doing.
Who matters to you.
What you’re worried about.
What you’re excited about.
What you’re trying to achieve.
What you currently believe.
What you don’t understand yet.
What you hope changes.
And what you desperately hope doesn’t.
You may be surprised by how much comes out once you imagine you’re writing to someone who already knows the ending.
Step 8: Don’t Start With Your Entire Life Story
This is another common mistake.
You decide: “Since this is my journal, I should explain everything.”
No, you don’t need to summarise your entire existence. Start with now.
What is happening in your life today?
What occupies your mind?
What are you looking forward to?
What is bothering you?
What have you been avoiding?
Who have you been thinking about?
What happened today?
Start there, your journal can move backwards and forwards naturally.
Step 9: Try the “Right Now” Method
If you are still stuck, complete these sentences:
Right now, I am…
Right now, I feel…
Right now, I am worried about…
Right now, I am excited about…
Right now, I wish…
Right now, I need…
Right now, I don’t understand…
Right now, I hope…
Don’t worry about making the sentences beautiful, just complete them. You may discover that one answer leads naturally to another, and suddenly you’re writing.
Step 10: Tell the Truth, But Don’t Force Yourself
Honesty is important in journaling, but honesty doesn’t mean you must reveal every secret immediately.
You don’t have to write something you’re not ready to confront. You don’t have to produce a dramatic emotional confession because somebody online said journaling is supposed to be transformative.
Sometimes honesty sounds like: “I don’t want to talk about this yet.”
That’s honest too, you can return to it later.
A journal should be a safe place to explore your thoughts, not a courtroom where you cross-examine yourself.
Step 11: Don’t Edit Yourself While Writing
One of the easiest ways to kill a journal entry is to become your own editor too early.
You write: “Today I was…”
Then stop.
“No, that’s not the right word.”
You cross it out, try again and cross that out too. Soon you’ve spent fifteen minutes trying to write one sentence.
Stop, write badly.
If the grammar is terrible, let it be terrible.
If you repeat yourself, repeat yourself.
If you suddenly change the subject, change it.
Your journal isn’t an essay, you can edit later if you want. But while writing, allow your thoughts to move.
Step 12: Don’t Worry About Being Interesting
You don’t need to write a novel every evening. Sometimes your entry can be wonderfully ordinary.
“I woke up late.”
“Traffic was terrible.”
“I bought akara on my way home.”
“My sister called me.”
“I laughed so hard today.”
“I finally finished that book.”
“I didn’t do anything today.”
Years later, those ordinary details may be exactly what you miss. The small things become the texture of a life.
Step 13: Record the People Around You
People are an important part of your story, write about them. But not necessarily in a judgmental way, simply observe.
What does your mother always say?
What makes your father laugh?
What does your best friend do when she’s nervous?
What funny expression does your brother always use?
What does your child say that you never want to forget?
Who is the person you keep thinking about?
These details become incredibly valuable over time, especially when memories begin to fade.
Step 14: Record Places
Don’t underestimate location.
Write about where you are.
Your childhood home.
Your university hostel.
Your first office.
Your favourite restaurant.
Your grandmother’s compound.
The street where you grew up.
The neighbourhood you hated.
The neighbourhood you eventually loved.
Describe what it smelled like.
What it sounded like.
What people did there.
What the buildings looked like.
What the evenings felt like.
You may think you will remember. You probably won’t remember everything, you can write it down instead.
Step 15: Record the Things You Usually Ignore
This is where journaling becomes an art.
Don’t only document what happened, document what felt ordinary.
What did your morning routine look like?
What did your neighbourhood sound like?
What did people complain about?
How much did ordinary things cost?
What did people wear?
What were people talking about?
What technology did everyone use?
What songs were popular?
What did you eat?
What did you believe about the future?
These details can become priceless historical material. One person’s ordinary life is another generation’s window into the past.
Step 16: Create Your Own Journaling Style
Eventually, you’ll discover that you have a style.
Perhaps you write long paragraphs.
Perhaps you prefer bullet points.
Perhaps your entries are letters.
Perhaps you draw.
Perhaps you use photographs.
Perhaps you write poetry.
Perhaps you ask yourself questions.
Perhaps you record conversations.
Perhaps you create lists.
Perhaps you mix everything together.
That’s fine. There is no requirement that every entry look the same, your journal can evolve with you.
Try These Seven Entry Styles
If you’re beginning and want variety, experiment.
1. The Daily Entry
“What happened today?”
Simple, reliable and classic.
2. The Letter
Write to:
Your future self.
Your younger self.
Someone you love.
Someone you lost.
Someone you cannot talk to.
3. The List
Try:
10 things I am grateful for.
5 things worrying me.
3 things I want to change.
7 things I don’t want to forget.
4. The Memory
Pick one moment from your past and describe it in detail.
5. The Question
Choose one question:
“What am I avoiding?”
“What do I really want?”
“What would I do if I wasn’t afraid?”
Then answer honestly.
6. The Observation
Sit somewhere and simply observe.
People.
Sounds.
Weather.
Movement.
Your surroundings.
Write what you notice.
7. The Conversation
Imagine your journal is a person, talk to it.
“Okay, I need to tell you what happened today…”
You may be surprised by how naturally the words begin to flow.
What If You Miss a Day?
Nothing.
You missed a day, congratulations, you are human.
You don’t need to write: “I apologise, dear journal, for my unacceptable absence.”
Just continue.
If you want, write: “I haven’t written for four days. Here’s what happened.”
Then continue.
Don’t allow a missed day to become a missed month, and don’t allow a missed month to become a missed year.
Returning is part of the practice.
What If You Don’t Know What to Write?
Use a prompt.
Ask:
What made me smile today?
What irritated me today?
What am I currently learning?
What am I afraid of?
What am I looking forward to?
What decision am I struggling with?
What do I wish someone understood about me?
What would I tell my younger self?
What am I pretending not to know?
What do I want my life to look like one year from now?
Sometimes you don’t need inspiration, you need a good question.
What If You Start Crying?
Then perhaps you’ve found something worth exploring, but you don’t have to force yourself to continue. Put the pen down, take a breath and come back later.
Journaling can bring emotions to the surface because it gives them somewhere to exist. That can be valuable, but journaling isn’t a substitute for professional help when someone is dealing with serious emotional or psychological difficulties.
Sometimes the most responsible thing you can write is:
“I think I need help with this.”
That’s also self-awareness.
What If You Write Something You Don’t Like?
Leave it, you don’t have to destroy every entry that embarrasses you.
In fact, don’t be too quick to erase your old self, you may eventually appreciate seeing how your thinking changed. The person who wrote something foolish at twenty may become the person who understands it differently at thirty.
Let your journal capture the evolution. Growth becomes much easier to recognise when you have evidence of where you started.
Your First Journal Doesn’t Have to Be Your Last
This is important.
Don’t feel as though you have to create the perfect lifelong journaling system immediately.
Your first journal can simply be an experiment. Try it for thirty days and see what happens. Maybe you love it, maybe you discover that you prefer writing once a week, and maybe you discover that you hate writing about your feelings but love documenting your business ideas.
Wonderful, you have learned something about yourself.
The goal isn’t to become someone who journals according to a particular formula. The goal is to discover what kind of journaling serves your life.
And One Day, You May Look Back
Imagine yourself ten years from now.
You open this journal, you see the handwriting, you see the date, you remember the room and you remember the person you were.
Maybe the problem you were worried about has disappeared.
Maybe the dream you wrote about came true.
Maybe it didn’t.
Maybe you married.
Maybe you didn’t.
Maybe you moved countries.
Maybe you built the business.
Maybe you changed careers.
Maybe the person you thought would be in your life forever is no longer there.
Maybe someone you never expected became incredibly important.
Life has a funny way of refusing to follow our original plans. Your journal can become the witness.
It can say:
This is who I was.
This is what I wanted.
This is what happened.
This is what changed.
This is what I became.
And This Is Where Your Story Becomes a Legacy
We’ve spoken about memoir throughout this journaling series, now you can see why.
A memoir doesn’t have to begin with: “Once upon a time…”
Sometimes it begins with a person sitting alone at a table, opening a notebook and writing honestly about an ordinary Friday, then Tuesday, another Friday, then another year, and eventually, those fragments become a life story.
At Naija Diaries, our future Memoir Writing Service will explore how those fragments can be carefully transformed into meaningful personal narratives.
For people who have lived extraordinary lives.
For people who have overcome difficult circumstances.
For entrepreneurs who built something from nothing.
For parents who want to leave their children a record of their journey.
For immigrants documenting the journey between two homes.
For professionals whose careers tell a story.
For ordinary people whose lives are meaningful precisely because they are ordinary and real.
You don’t need to wait until your life is “interesting enough.” Document it while you’re living it.
The First Page Is Waiting
Perhaps your journal is still sitting somewhere, untouched, beautiful and waiting.
Don’t worry about ruining the first page. You aren’t ruining it, you’re beginning it. Write the date, take a breath and write: “This is where I begin.”
Then keep going.
Join the Journaling Circle
And if you don’t want to begin alone, that’s exactly why the Journaling Circle exists.
It is a growing community for people who want to make journaling part of their lives, not as another task to complete, but as a space to pause, reflect, document and connect.
Inside the circle, we hope to explore:
Journaling prompts.
Writing challenges.
Themed journaling sessions.
Reflection exercises.
Creative journaling ideas.
Conversations around life and memory.
Ways to preserve personal and family stories.
And eventually, opportunities to turn some of those stories into something bigger.
You can keep your entries private, you don’t have to publish anything. You simply get to write alongside other people who are doing the same.
Sometimes knowing that other people are also sitting somewhere with a blank page makes beginning a little easier.
What’s Coming Next?
We’ve spent the last few articles building the foundation.
We’ve asked:
What is journaling?
Why should you keep one?
Paper or digital?
What myths should you stop believing?
And now:
How do you actually begin?
But there’s another question waiting, because once you have a journal, you eventually discover something interesting:
There are days when you have far too much to say, and there are days when your mind feels completely empty.
So what happens then?
How do you find things to write about when “Today was fine” is genuinely all you have?
That’s where we’re going next.
Our next article will explore Journal Prompts: Questions That Make You Think, with prompts designed not merely to fill pages, but to uncover memories, ideas, questions and stories you may not have realised were waiting inside you.
Because sometimes, you don’t need more words, you simply need the right question.
Today’s Journal Prompt
Open your new journal, write today’s date, then answer these questions without worrying about grammar, structure or whether they sound impressive:
1. Who am I right now?
Describe yourself as honestly as you can.
2. What is happening in my life at this moment?
Don’t write what you think should be happening.
Write what actually is.
3. What am I hoping for?
Be ambitious.
Be unrealistic if you want.
This page doesn’t need to know what is possible yet.
4. What am I afraid of?
Don’t make the answer pretty.
5. What do I never want to forget about this particular season of my life?
And finally:
6. If my future self reads this ten years from now, what do I want them to understand about the person writing these words today?
Date the page, close the journal and welcome to the beginning of your story.
Read the next article here: What If You Don’t Know What to Write?