I sometimes think I should but then I’m like is my life really that worth documenting?
My life is intresging AS fuck (im writing my auto biography)
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.
You write because it organizes your thoughts better. Every other reason I feel will not sustain the effort.
Surely, your life matters to you?
eh
I use it as a way to voice my thoughts and emotions that I cannot express otherwise. I primarily write poems for that.
I don’t journal to document my life but to organize my tasks.
There are different ways of journaling.
Isn’t that called a to-do list?
Depending how far you want to go it’s a little more involved: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/39071691-the-bullet-journal-method
Exactly. And journaling on paper is essentially useless. Ctr+F is the main reason to journal for me.
For me, writing a journal, notes or to-do list on a app or text file is completely useless. I just forget about it. I forget what words I used, did I write in the dialect or the official written language way (my native language has a bunch of different ways to write shit and I mix them up constantly because I’m a useless dummy). Once I hit “save” thats the equivalent of erasing it from my brain memory.
If I write things down on paper, I remember the action of writing, I remember what words I wrote, I even remember in which spot in the notebook it was, for example, half a page down from the spot where I circled a important task the previous week or one page after the spot where I crossed over a bunch of text.
It’s cheaper than therapy.
Plus, if you can afford therapy, they’ll recommend you keep a journal anyway.
Journaling helps me to quiet my mind and organise my thoughts. It lets me track my mood and trends over time. I do some gratitude journaling which helps me to be more positive. I also use it for like annual review things looking at bigger picture things.
Unfortunately I fail to do it regularly, but I love it. On the one hand it helps me to wrap up the day, clear my head and fall asleep. On the other hand I love to reflect on snapshots of my past thoughts and experiences.
It also depends on the type of journal. For example I maintain a dream journal, too, which improves your dream recall. Furthermore discovering patterns, confusions and in general yourself in your dreams is fascinating.
I don’t journal. I think it’s weird.
It makes sense if you are like, a writer or doing a project around writing. I kept a journal when I was a graduate student, yeah because I was using it as a part of my work.
Most journalism I’ve seen just is of the self-help variety where people like either confess their secrets to the journal, or just self-praise themselves by over dramatizing basic accomplishments as some sort of heroic thing. It’s weird af. one time i broke up with a girlfriend because her journal she left over my house was full of the most toxic and vile shit, it was disgusting how her inner life and her outer life were completely at odds, but it explained so much to be why she was so unhappy and miserable all the time and so mean to other people randomly.
also super trippy, i’ve seen people journaling together at a bar, high fiving each other about their ‘self discovery’. but i live in city full of mentally ill people who are very high on their own supply about how amazing they are for like making a sandwich or going on a vacation.
If you read your girlfriends journal without her permission, then she probably is better off without you
it’s ok, she became a nun. she was mentally ill and rather than deal with it she just chose to cloister herself away from the world.
Because my memory is shot, but I usually only do it for work.
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 admirationNote 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 could never articulate it this well, but this also applies to me. Except I don’t usually title my entries. The few I have are:
- FUCK THIS
- I’m not in love
- Real shit
- Real shit pt. 2
Oh, and “Dear Ben”. It’s things I’ve had the urge to share with my brother since he died back in 2020. Couldn’t go back and read that one for a long time, but I can now (for the most part). Like you said, helps demonstrate to myself how much I’ve grown.
Anyways, thanks for sharing.
I add the titles after I am done writing the initial entry usually.
Thanks for sharing too!
Can’t tell if these entries sound like a standup set or an album drop. 🤔
I guess if I wanted (and had the skills), I could see a way to turn it into either. 😅
But alas I would rather not. Maybe in 20 years or something.
My memory is terrible; I use a journal to help remember details of my life.
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
It came with the distro
