diff --git a/jrnl/Journal.py b/jrnl/Journal.py
index 92a6774f..f562a4c7 100644
--- a/jrnl/Journal.py
+++ b/jrnl/Journal.py
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ from . import time
 import codecs
 import re
 from datetime import datetime
+import dateutil.parser
 import sys
 try:
     from Crypto.Cipher import AES
@@ -112,6 +113,16 @@ class Journal(object):
     def _parse(self, journal_txt):
         """Parses a journal that's stored in a string and returns a list of entries"""
 
+        def get_date_length(myline):
+            tmpdate=''
+            for i in [x for x in myline.split(' ') ]:
+                try:
+                    dateutil.parser.parse(tmpdate + ' ' + i)
+                    tmpdate = tmpdate + ' ' + i
+                except:
+                    break
+            return len(tmpdate.strip())
+
         # Entries start with a line that looks like 'date title' - let's figure out how
         # long the date will be by constructing one
         date_length = len(datetime.today().strftime(self.config['timeformat']))
@@ -123,6 +134,7 @@ class Journal(object):
         for line in journal_txt.splitlines():
             line = line.rstrip()
             try:
+                date_length=get_date_length(line)
                 # try to parse line as date => new entry begins
                 new_date = datetime.strptime(line[:date_length], self.config['timeformat'])