So, I Journaled: Turning Self-Expression into Positive Lessons

By Ashley Brindamour

"For me, journaling has long been a way to highlight my strengths and my weaknesses. My struggles have been the gas that fires up my writing hot rod. Today, as I flip through the pages of my old entries (and changed handwriting), I relive some of the best and worst moments of my twenty-five years of life. I see how beneficial this craft has been, and I refuse to waste it."

So, I Journaled is a compilation of twelve self-motivating lessons inspired by years of personal journaling.

The author has ripped pages from her childhood and adulthood journals to offer guidance for individuals as young as middle school age.

This book is both optimistic and real. The author is transparent about the struggles of life and how things are not always going to be perfect while still offering lessons to help make the best of a bad situation. The stories included in this book are personal and real. Readers will feel connected to their past and find peace in mistakes or regrets they may have.

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 3, 2021
• ISBN: 9781649521422

Book preview

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So, I Journaled

Turning Self-Expression into Positive Lessons

Ashley Brindamour

Copyright © 2020 Ashley Brindamour

All rights reserved

First Edition

Fulton Books, Inc.

Meadville, PA

Published by Fulton Books 2020

ISBN 978-1-64952-135-4 (paperback)

ISBN 978-1-64952-142-2 (digital)

Printed in the United States of America

Table of Contents

Turn Isolation into Connection

Don’t Use Different as a Shield

Be More Like the Penguins

The Pain Won’t Last Forever

Use Fear as Fuel

Be a Leader

Don’t Get Lost in the Fantasy World

Just Apologize When You’ve Been a Bi(t)ch

Sometimes Mean Comes from a Good Place

It’s Okay to Feel Stuck Sometimes

When Life Goes Bad, Use It for Good

Say Yes without Guilt

For my best friend, therapist, confidant, and biggest supporter—my mother

For my best friend, motivator, adviser, and inspiration—my father

Introduction

In order to write you must have confidence in your own experience, that it is rich enough to write about.

—Natalie Goldberg

People often say, Use your gift[s] when it comes to being successful, but has anyone ever mentioned the power of using your weaknesses? I believe that anything that sparks some type of energy in you (whether that be your triumphs or struggles) can be used to fuel the earth.

All energy is good energy if you know the right way to use it.

For me, journaling has long been a way to highlight my strengths and my weaknesses. My struggles have been the gas that fires up my writing hot rod. Today, as I flip through the pages of my old entries (and changed handwriting), I relive some of the best and worst moments of my twenty-five years of life. I see how beneficial this craft has been, and I refuse to waste it.

My name is Ashley Brindamour, and you are currently reading my first book.

I feel like I am handing someone the password to my pink Barbie Diary that, as kids, we would hide under our beds after filling it with the names of our secret crushes and the white lies we told our parents. However, this is on a much bigger scale. I am handing over my inner thoughts and experiences to a world of strangers. It is personal, deep, and even a little embarrassing, but I know the reward of helping others will outweigh the sacrifice.

I am going to start by telling you a little bit about what you can expect from me: a twenty-five-year-old young woman who grew up in a small town in New Hampshire.

I occasionally just sit and think about the size of the world. It is daunting when you calculate that even a small town holds at least three thousand people. I have lived in my small town nearly my entire life, and I do not even know a third of the people in the same general vicinity as myself. Then I dissect reality even more. This is only one small town, in one small state, in just one country. It is hard not to feel minuscule and unimportant in such a large world; hence, why many of us stay secluded. It is also why many of us today feel depressed and anxious. Living in a digital world doesn’t help as we are constantly subjected to seeing different faces and places, which makes us feel like a tiny stump in a never-ending forest of budding trees. It’s debilitating really, which is why I believe that sharing personal pieces of ourselves will help reduce the struggle of feeling so alone.

So I have decided to open myself up in hopes that it will give others the strength to push themselves to the next level.

In this book, I have compiled twelve lessons that I have learned throughout my own personal life experiences. I have ripped pages from my childhood and adulthood journals and pasted them here for the world to see. It is something I never thought I would have the courage to do, but I believe that knowledge should be shared. These lessons have served me well, and I hope they will do the same for you.

Whether you believe me or not, everyone has a purpose on this earth, and that is something that has taken me a long time to believe myself. However, it is the attitude in which you enter each day that reflects whether this statement rings true for you.

Lesson 1

Turn Isolation into Connection

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much.

—Helen Keller

The grocery store is, without a doubt, one of the worst places to go if you are trying to be a Good Samaritan.

Reasons being are the following:

The parents who allow their children to run and scream up and down the aisles.

The far too many people who pause in the middle of each aisle, thinking the item they pick up is magically going to turn into the item they have been looking for (that granola is not going to transform into frosted flakes, Grandma. Keep walking).

The adults that give dirty looks to anyone who isn’t walking at above-average speed.

The people who ironically forgot something at checkout when there are ten other people behind them in line.

This is not to say that I am a five-star grocery shopper. I’m sure people want to run into me with their carts while I stand near the produce on my phone. What can I say? Sometimes I have to stop in the middle of an aisle to look up what the health benefits of a