Draw instead of writing in a journal

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Happy Sunday and thank you for opening this week’s #TheLifeOfJLOWE newsletter!

Last week I talked a bit about how to break and build a new habit, and throughout the week I tried to implement my own wisdom that I shared about what to do after a day of work.

To report a bit on my efforts - I still did yoga every morning, and went to the gym Monday, Tuesday and Thursday. I told you that you’d likely fail at breaking your habit the first time, and it seems like I did Wednesday, Friday and Saturday because I still lay in my bed and rot after work.

However, as I said last week, you have to give yourself the kudos for trying, and when you fail, you have to try again.

So here’s to the week ahead and trying again!

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Helping my memory through writing

On the days that I didn’t workout after work, however, I indulged myself in art and reading and actually started a drawing of a Lignum Vitae flower (Jamaica’s national flower).

I continued to read “Sapiens”, and the chapter I’m reading focuses on the memory of humans and how writing things down has incredibly supplemented our memory throughout history.

I’ve written about this before in a past newsletter but I think writing things down really is a life hack that has been a form of therapy for me as well. Journalling, writing this newsletter and just keeping written records of things generally in life - like having a real tangible bucket list - has helped me tremendously to cope and progress through life.

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Drawing as a form of record keeping *to change

As I mentioned earlier, this week I spent some time drawing a Lignum Vitae.

I started drawing it because I read a magazine called Magazine Name and it talked about the history of the Lignum Vitae and how it came to be Jamaica’s national flower, and I realized I wasn’t 100% sure what it even looked like.

As I drew it throughout the week, as you would expect, I became more and more familiar with the reference picture I was using, and now I bet I could spot a Lignum Vitae flower a mile away. Drawing, like writing, was a helpful memory aid for me to learn this new thing.

How to use drawing as a memory aid too

Of course this isn’t a new discovery, but I wanted to share that with you this week because as a writer, I often encourage you to write things down. Whether it’s your 300 before 30 list or your goals for the new year, I feel like we’re always encouraged in the media to write things down.

But what if you draw things to remember them instead? What if that’s how your brain is wired to recall things?

I remember one of my friends (s/o to Isaiah) told me about a girl he knew that would take her notes by drawing pictures in class instead of writing notes. That made me recognize that it’s so easy to forget that not all our brains function the same, and so not all conventional advice may be applicable to you.

Conclusion

If you want to build a habit of writing things down, like journalling or starting a newsletter but maybe have had problems with consistency or idea generation, maybe try drawing.

Or try some other form of documentation - whether it be painting, using physical items to count or any technique you can think of.

Throughout history (according to the book I’m reading, Sapiens, of course), humans have used a plethora of means to document things. Writing and lettered-languages have seemed to be the most efficient for communication, but for something like self introspection or reflection, maybe another form of art could resonate more for you.

There’s no way that the same techniques work perfectly well for all of us, despite them being widely regarded, so tap into your own creativity, use your free will, and see what you can come up with to help in your habit building process and in your daily reflections if that’s something you’re interested in doing.

Until next Sunday,

Justin