I wrote “Morning Pages” every day for a month: The results!

Is there anything more aspirational for women than morning journaling? Maybe working out when you first wake up, but I know myself. That’s never going to happen. 

I know I’m not the only one who desires peaceful mornings, ideally sitting alone in a perfectly manicured secret flower garden, writing down my deepest thoughts. 🪻📒✍🏽

I may not have access to such a garden—my yard looks like an ugly duckling and may never transform into a swan. But I can write. And so I did. I spent the entire month of May writing morning pages every day. Keep reading to find out the results! 

As a reminder, this is part of My Experimental Year. 

Every month in 2024, I’m choosing an activity to do daily to see how it adds (or doesn’t) to my life. Many of these experiments have to do with a fantasy version of myself. I feel like I would be a better person or more interesting or more actualized/fulfilled if I did these things.

But is it actually true? It’s time to officially find out.

If yes, then maybe these actions become part of my regular routine. If not, maybe it’s time to release my imaginings of what would make my life better.

If you want to do your own experiment, fill out the form below to get a printable tracker⬇️

Hypothesis (what I think it will add to my life):

Before this experiment, I did my best to journal most mornings. Often this was just a few sentences. While I did find value in it, I hypothesized that I could get even more value from longer and deeper writing. 

• More creativity. 
• More clarity. 
• More intentionality. 

Sidenote: Many people journal to remember what’s going on in their lives. I do not. I journal to work out what I think about things, vent about my day, and choose the thoughts I want to think so that I can show up for my life as the person I want to be. 

Guidelines:

I’ve heard many people mention the practice of “Morning Pages” from Julia Cameron’s book, The Artist’s Way. I finally snagged a copy of it and was excited to get to the morning pages section. 

Julia recommends writing first thing in the morning for three pages, continuously, by hand. If you’re not sure what to write, you just write, “I don’t know what to write,” until something comes to you. When your three pages are done, you’re done writing. 

Great. Love it. 

One problem.

I prefer to type my journal. While I’m sure there are benefits specific to writing by hand, I wanted to make my experiment as easy as possible. So I adapted it. 

These were my three guidelines: 

• If typing, 1 whole page 
• If handwriting, 3 pages in my journal
• Time: done by 10 am. 

Notes from writing morning pages every day

I think I missed two days of this experiment. I’m pretty sure they were both when we had overnight visitors, so I got up and there was someone to chat with. 

The best way to get my writing in would have been to put my laptop in my room before bed so I could journal when I got up before leaving my room. When we have visitors or when I’m a guest in someone else’s house, I have a hard time taking time for myself after I leave my room. 

Notes from Day 5:

The full page feels like a lot each day. But it causes me to write about random things I wouldn’t have bothered to write about otherwise. I feel like writing in the morning gives me time to “connect with myself.” Identify my thoughts and beliefs and come at the day with a clearer head.  

I like that this experiment is completed early in the morning. Two of my most successful experiments–aka, ones that I followed through with the most consistently–were done in the morning. This, plus doing hair and makeup. 

Notes from Day 21:

I’m loving this experiment. I feel as though I’m starting each day with a clearer head and able to focus.

Typing is the way to go for me. I love the idea of writing my journal. It’s much more aesthetically pleasing, but I struggle to write large amounts by hand. It hurts my hands. I still use my journal as a notebook for quick ideas that come to me or for writing out my weekend intentions so that I don’t have to look at a screen to see them.

I continually wish I had a different device for journaling. The laptop works perfectly. I just would like it if I didn’t have to use the same device that I use for work all day. Separation would feel nice. But then it’s an extra thing to take care of. Not very minimalist when I have a perfectly good laptop for the purpose. I could probably do a better job of closing all other web browser tabs so that there are fewer distractions. 

Results of writing morning pages every day:

I got a lot of value out of this experiment! I’m not sure if I experienced increased creativity, as hypothesized, but I definitely experienced more clarity and intentionality. 

I realized that I am extremely good at avoiding discomfort, conflict, and introspection, so the minimum length caused me to dive into some topics that I would never have otherwise. 

I felt more centered throughout the day after getting out whatever was on my brain, reminding myself of who I am, and being able to think through how I want to show up for the day.

It takes a bit longer than I thought it would to fill a page each morning—20-30 minutes. But it’s worth it.

I’m 10 days into the next month as I’m writing this and while I have been journaling most mornings, I have not kept up with the length requirement—one of the most important parts! This is a good reminder of how fragile our habits can be. Time to recommit myself and be more purposeful with this habit. 

👉Do you journal in the morning? What does your writing practice look like? Leave a comment and let me know!