08/14/2026
When I’m carrying big emotions, I don’t always want to write them in the journal that will live on my shelf forever. Some feelings need somewhere to go, but they don’t necessarily need to stay.
That’s where my dump journal comes in. 📓
It’s nothing fancy, just a simple composition notebook. I write the messy stuff there. The anger, sadness, frustration, fear, overwhelm…whatever needs to come out.
And sometimes I can’t find the words at all. So I scribble. I make marks. I let my hand move across the page while I process what I’m feeling.
At the end of every year, I burn or destroy my dump journal. Some years it’s completely full. Other years, not even close. I guess it depends on the kind of year I’ve had. 💜
For me, destroying it is part of the practice. I don’t want to carry all of that energy with me into a new year. I needed a place to put it, I gave it a place, and then I let it go.
Not every journal needs to become a keepsake.
Some journals are meant to hold our stories.
And some are meant to help us release them. ✨
