It came with the distro

I tend to overshare online about my trauma because I want to feel seen and then a wave of guilt washes over me. Best to keep it to myself on paper. I journal to keep a record of my feelings, how my days/week went, and to help me reduce overthinking.

As years go by, I look back on how much I’ve grown and progressed in life. Though I did throw the notebooks away because they were filled with horrible memories and I wanted to start over. I still remember what I wrote, but I’ve healed from them so it doesn’t really hurt me that much anymore.

I also have a book of wins where I write everything that I achieved from small to big wins-- from getting out of bed with depression to hitting the gym to solving a difficult problem on a project.

I used Daylio to make daily entries, tagging activities that day and stuff like that.

I made it…2418 days in a row? Huh, wow.

I liked how it would figure out how different things like “rainy day”, “friend hangout”, “work”, or “a-hole encounter at work”, would impact your overall mood the day they occurred and the day after.

I would just kinda write a few paragraphs about the day before going to bed, add some pictures…

I have ADHD and a crappy memory for everyday things, so sometimes it was cool to go back and actually think about and process my day, and also look at entries of good days or bad days and see what I was thinking back then.

But I kinda dropped off…I got too busy and tired, I’d pass out before bothering with it, and…I didn’t really record things that were particularly insightful?

I also didn’t like the streak pressure. I’d catch myself making entries like “I don’t remember this day but I’m sure it was fine” like 4 entries in a row just to keep that streak going LOL.

But I am kinda proud I stuck with anything that long. Kinda like DuoLingo and other “positive” habit forming apps, I almost find more strength in choosing to let it go now, and try something else.

I used to bullet journal in an actual notebook, to help get organised. then stopped and reverted to being unorganised

I do make some notes on investments in a stream of consciousness type of thing in Joplin, that I intend to reorganize…hopefully

Keeping a diary ? no

My memory is terrible; I use a journal to help remember details of my life.

For me it is not about documenting my life at all. It is about processing very strong emotions (negative, positive, neutral?) that I can’t move on from.

Here are all entries in my diary:

2025-07 The Pornhub Hoody
2025-01 Debating K
2024-10 The criteria
2024-10 No Encounter
2024-10 A Pawn in their game
2024-08 What a Wash
2024-03 S The Aftermath
2021-06 T admiration 

Note the names are abbreviated with just a letter in the entry itself too. In the moment it is often too hard for me to write the actual name. I have removed the exact date but I don’t think the titles are too sensitve.

I review my entries like once a year and it is still very hard to read some of them. I think remembering the past is very importnat. It also shows growth, improvement and development.

Older ones are sadly lost to time. I think it really helped me improve myself a lot.

I never force myself to write them. I write them when I feel I have to. It also keeps the number low and the impact high ideal for a yearly review.

Some have blocks of dated commentary at the end. I never edit existing writing though. Once it is written it is frozen.

I don’t journal to document my life but to organize my tasks.

There are different ways of journaling.

I don’t journal to document my life. I journal to get my thoughts out of me. Expressing something can be cathartic regardless of it’s veracity. It doesn’t have to make sense, be interesting, or fun. The act of writing can clear your head and let your honest feelings come to the surface.

I don’t go back to read what I wrote. The act of writing is enough.

I think it can help process some feelings as you’re defining things before you put them on paper instead of everything being a nebulous mess. Also, if you want to retrospectively understand what happened, the journal can help you establish a timeline and causes and effects, right? I’ve never done it but it’s probably helpful to some of us.

A dear friend with a neurodivergence explained her journal to me as cue cards for different places, emotions, and experiences she’d had.

Much like a great dream, most of the memories would turn to smoke without a written pointer of what it was she’d done that day.

It’s a daily list of reminders

It’s cheaper than therapy.

Plus, if you can afford therapy, they’ll recommend you keep a journal anyway.

I do it for therapy. If I write it down, I don’t spend as much time thinking or obsessing over it. It also helps focus on what I really want to say instead of the jumbled mess that comes out when I open my mouth.

I use it as a way to voice my thoughts and emotions that I cannot express otherwise. I primarily write poems for that.

I started journaling when I was really stressed out. I don’t journal often now, just when I have a bunch of thoughts and want to feel better.

Shamelessly pointing to the journaling community: !journaling@sh.itjust.works. There is also a great introduction in the !nanowrimo2@feddit.online community.

I journal mostly because I like writing and the ritual of sitting down (usually with a hot chocolate) and thinking about what is going on inside my head. It’s like someone asking “how was your day” and you tell them. Sometimes nothing special, sometimes a lot and sometimes you think it has not been much, but once you start it all falls into place and the thoughts and emotions start to come up. I don’t do it daily, but multiple times per week.

There are many ways to journal. You can use prompts, if you are unsure what to write about. It can be more shallow, like what has happened during the day. Or more deep to explore your feelings. Some like to track what’s going on in their life and it’s actual closer to a logbook. But that’s fine as well. It has to fit for you after all and will probably change as you go along and get more comfortable with it.

And, to be honest, sometimes it’s a good excuse to buy that pretty notebook I saw in the store…