Instead of looking ahead to round two of the CME Group Tour Championship, Gaby Lopez will probably spend Thursday night looking back. The two-time LPGA Tour champion fired a 6-under par 66 highlighted by seven birdies in the first round, but it’s the journal she keeps that helps Lopez to focus on the present.
“I like to journal, a lot. I journal pretty much every day. I’m finishing up my third [journal], have probably a total of 12. I like to see myself back when I was struggling, what did I do to get out of the struggle. I like to see what I was doing when I was playing good, or mentally good,” said Lopez. “I like to question myself all the time. I like to just be a nerd on Gaby.
“Looking back takes me to where I was better with me, myself and not Gaby the golfer. I feel that when I got comfortable with who I am and I own myself and I am comfortable under my own skin, that's exactly where I feel I have the best version of myself and am not pretending to be someone else, not pretending to demonstrate anything. Just kind of just being honest with myself.
“At times, I find myself trying to perform for the people around me. I like to keep it simple, and that is where I look to my journals to see exactly what I did to be okay with who I am.”
From analyzing her journal and looking at her development and growth from past words she has scribbled down, Lopez has found a hobby that fulfills more than even meets her own eye.
“I'm a writer. I love to write things down,” Lopez said. “Having different goals gets me into short-term goals, into process and then eventually to results. The more I focus on what I need to do to get better rather than what's been going on, that's key.
“When you check yourself into little habits, that's when the big things grow inside of you and this power of no one can stop me. I feel that when I stop being lazy, when I keep myself on track and I am true to myself, that's exactly where I get the best Gaby from.”
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