Hello! I have not been hear as much as I like. But the pad is my favorite place. I wanted help so am turning here. I am Having a hard time with personal stuff and I want to try to journal it out. But I don't want anyone to ever read it. Thinking of trying digitally and art journaling over it. Anyone do this? Any tips? Does it help? I have huge feelings of resentment and I need to let go. Any advice?
Yes I have done it, both digitally, but also in a journal.. one piece of advice I got ,and it works,is to write in one continuous line, no stops, no commas no separate words, and let one line slightly overlap the other. You will find it impossible to re read, but in your mind you have written in down, you have said your piece ( sometimes pages and pages of it.) Some time later , after you feel better about things, you will be able to burn the pages without reliving the bad feelings, because you can not read it,and so not be sad all over again. Digitally I use 1 word and colour or symbols.but hidden layers are good too. Try, what can it hurt ? Hope you will feel better in yourself soon.
Hmmmm.... If it's just for you. I would make a background that reflects the feelings you have with colors, and then journal on top of it. Just let all your emotions out. Spill the tea. Read it a few times and then, blur it a bit, add more to the BG - paint, newspaper layers, blend photos, typed layers, edges, other quotes that lift you up, and things that are uplifting to you. Then.... make a page out of it - one that can be printed. You will know what is on that page underneath. No one else will. It will be a reminder to you if you want that you dealt with the feelings, and moved on. It may give you strength to face them and then make something beautiful also.
Bravo to you, brave one! Letting go of resentment is such a healthy thing, as resentment seems justified, but it really becomes a cage one lives in! I did a whole journal about an issue- took a few months. As I did, I began to see how much time, energy, (and ME! ) those feelings had occupied. I did some digital pages, some of the details are hidden, but some are in a really small or hard to read font. For paper, it didn't matter because I wasn't sharing it. Go for it!!!!
If you are printing single pages (and not printing in a photo book), it's easy to type your journaling on a separate piece of paper and adhere it to the back of the layout. That way you can still read it, especially if you need to look back to see how far you've come from those feelings. What others have suggested, of just getting all the pain and hurt and resentment out, but camouflaging the text so that it's not readable to you or others, is a great idea as well. I've been scrapping some of the hard things from the past 12 months, and it's been extremely therapeutic for me to examine myself and how I reacted then and how I'm reacting now. I hope that you'll find the same release of pain that I've experienced. Sending you loads of ((HUGS)).
I have done it with hidden journaling. I use a really hard to read font, cut down the opacity and make it blend into the background. That way, if I want to read it later I can just change the font and size and read it that way.
I agree with what everyone else has said. Hard to read font, small font size or hidden layers. I have done them all. Strength to you and much love.
@AJK said " For paper, it didn't matter because I wasn't sharing it. Go for it!!!! " Yes it it true, you are not willingly sharing it. But after you feel better you will put it somewhere, forget about it..... you will have moved on. But later on, ( if you get ill, die, move house whatever ) it will surface again. This will be how you felt a few short weeks or months of your life. But to the person who finds it, it will be all they can think about.
seems like you have gotten a lot of great advice Jagruti. keeping you in my thoughts that you will feel better soon. I am glad you have this outlet re AJ to get it out.
I've done pages where I've journaling on the background, and then covered it over with brushes, paper scraps and other elements. The mixed media styled kits are fabulous for this. It's very therapeutic for getting those feelings out, and creating something beautiful from it without having the negative words legible.
I'm so sorry you're struggling with real life stuff. You've gotten some great digital ideas above. If you want to do something in a real life journal there are a couple great ways to handle this. One way is to just write it all down on a page and then paint over the top of it... with black or dark colors if that's your mood and then you could do some other layers on top. Then it's been written, but nobody will ever see it. The other thing to do, starts the same way. Write it down. Then rip it up into small pieces and then collage them down randomly. You'll never be able to read them that way either and the ripping it up is super therapeutic! Or you could even shred them or burn them if you really want to destroy them. Here's a page I found on Pinterest:
I did a layout for MOC with a heap of journaling but didn’t want young eyes seeing it in the gallery/forum so I used blur on the text part of it
thank you thank you everyone for your replies! I love all the ideas! I am going to try, because these feelings are really confusing a lot of my time and effort. I am tired and drained. thank you for all the kind words. I love this community!
Popped in and saw your cry. my heart so aches for you. you write those words in the biggest font you want! Type them out and then create beauty on top of them. Photos that make you smile, favorite elements and colors that bring you joy. Photo shop is in layers-and life is also. In photoshop, we can put the layers anyway we want. Big cyber hugs to you my friend
