Journal ecosystem – the internet has given a name for something I’ve been creating since I was a pre-teen, and I’m here for it!

Thanks to this fancy title, I no longer feel the need to justify all the notebooks on my desk, on my nightstand, and in my handbags. And when someone asks, “You’re buying another journal?” — I can confidently say, “Yes! Yes, I am. It’s part of my journal ecosystem.”

What is a journal ecosystem?

A journal ecosystem is a personalized system of multiple notebooks and tools, each with a specific purpose such as journaling, planning, recording ideas or chronicling events. The notebooks work together to organize different aspects of your life.

I’ve had a journal ecosystem for decades, but I just called it “a whole bunch of journals.”

It started with that first diary that I got in elementary school – you know the one with the lock and key because my 5th grade crush was top secret information!

All jokes aside, at an early age, I began to use my journal for processing emotions too, I just didn’t know that’s what I was doing. I was a little girl with big feelings about EVERYTHING, but I was too shy to share those thoughts out loud. So I wrote them down. When I was dealing with anxiety and depression, I didn’t have the language for either, but I did have my journal. And when I wrote, I felt better. So I never wanted to stop writing.

In middle school, I added a planner and a goals notebook to the mix. I also had a notebook for poetry and short stories.

In high school, I added a self-improvement notebook and a journal for church and bible study notes.

Eventually, I started writing down my conversations with God, so in college, I introduced a prayer journal to my system.

My Journal Ecosystem

The older I get and the fuller my life becomes, the more journals and notebooks I seem to need. Marriage journal. Freelancing notebook. Entrepreneurship journal. Travel diary.

My journal ecosystem changes and evolves as I do.

For example, I used to keep a gratitude journal, but I noticed that all of my prayers started with a gratitude list, so that journal began to feel redundant. My “self-improvement” notebook became a “personal growth” journal because I stopped looking at myself as something that needed to be fixed.

I know what you’re thinking — why don’t you just keep everything in one journal? Trust me, I’ve tried. And it DID NOT WORK. While I know that learning to integrate all areas of life is the key to balance, I also know that there’s a time and a place for everything. My journal ecosystem is my way of giving each facet of my life the space it deserves.

My 2026 Journaling System

Here are the journals and notebooks I have for 2026:

Prayer Journal

My prayer journal is for conversations with God as well as notes and reflections from devotional time spent reading the Bible and books on spirituality. This is the only journal I aim to write in daily.

Planner

Yes, I consider my planner a part of my journal ecosystem. A planner is just a journal standing on business. Plus, just as I like to read through my journals at the end of the year, thumbing through my planner every December is a great way to review the life I’m living.

Personal Growth Journal

My personal growth journal is for examining my values and purpose, for note-taking when I’m reading personal development books, and for reflections and plans related to health, fitness and overall wellness.

Tiny Diary

My tiny diary is a purse-size notebook or journal I carry with me to capture musings and inspiration and to take notes at church and events.

See Jane Write Notebook

Of course, I have a notebook for all things See Jane Write! This is for ideas for the Collective, for the blog, for events, and more. For your ecosystem, you could add a journal for your book, your blog, your job, or a passion project. (If you’re a See Jane Write Collective member, you could devote a notebook or binder to notes from See Jane Write workshops!)

Goals Notebook

In my goals notebook, I write down my yearly, quarterly, and monthly goals and my plan to make them happen.

Journaling Challenge Notebook

Whenever I’m participating in or leading a journaling challenge, I like to keep a separate journal for that as well.

Travel Journals

I have 3 travel journals. One is specifically for Orange Beach – my happy place and a city I try to visit twice a year. Another is for New York City, a place my husband and I try to visit every other year. And then I have a third travel journal for all other places.

Book of Lists

I love lists! I always have at least one notepad on my desk that’s just for lists. This year, I got a personalized notepad from Ivory Paper Co.

Everything Else Notebook

I have one notebook for everything else, such as notes from meetings or outlines for articles.

Journaling is My Legacy

Sometimes it’s annoying when the internet names things and pretends the thing it has bestowed a moniker upon is new to the world. But sometimes, when the internet names things, it gives us language for something we’ve lived for years.

Erica Buddington said it best: “Social media often names things we’ve already lived, but naming helps us see ourselves more clearly. My journals were already a world, already a language, already a survival strategy. The term didn’t create my ecosystem. It simply gave me a way to describe the landscape I’ve been tending since I was a little girl…”

People often ask me if I have a plan for what I want loved ones to do with my journals after I’ve left this earth. Quick frankly, apart from my prayer journals, I’d like my journals and notebooks to be burned to ash! But I’ll be dead, so if you judge me for what you find in my journals, I will never hear about it!

I know that having the journals of great writers like Octavia Butler and Sylvia Plath has added so much to our literary lives, but I think I am to impact the world through journaling in a different way. I am constantly preaching the power of journaling on this blog, on social media, and in workshops and other speaking engagements.

The legacy I want to leave behind is not the boxes of old journals cluttering my attic but the stories you will tell of how I inspired you to journal and how journaling changed your life.

If you’re looking for a group of like-minded women to journal with, check out the See Jane Write Network Facebook group. Our next journaling challenge is set for February, but we’ll have lots of fun before then too! Come join us!