"Dear journal, today senpai noticed me"

[Auticorn]

I couldn't think of a more witty and appealing title. Sue me.

Anyway, do you journal? Is it something you did in the past? What do you like about journaling if you do it? If you don't, what made you stop/not do it?

I try to journal as much as I can. I do scrapbooking and add stickers to my entries at times, and I've been trying to get back into it. It helps me get out all my thoughts, including the really bad thoughts I might have to endure as well. I really should get back into it.

Spoiler: my journal

 

[Astinus]

Journaling has been a habit that I used to try to get into, but it wasn't until last year that it really settled in for me. Last year, my life changed in such a way that I needed to keep track of what was going on. It's really great to go back and read what happened, and my memories feel stronger of those times. Like I can picture where I was standing as certain events were happening. It's also great to have a record of what happened on what day, because--as I said--a lot has happened in a year for me.

My journals don't look like anything special. Over my lifetime, I've bought plenty of notebooks for writing reasons. So as one fills up with entries, I just grab the next one from the pile. So like right now, I'm using a basic notebook I bought at a grocery store. Nothing fancy. But what matters more is what's written inside.

I do like that your journal kind of matches your Switch! Also, A&W root beer is best root beer.

 

[Zeostar]

I tried journaling.

I can only stick with it for a few weeks before I inevitably put it down and never pick it back up.

Although reading old entries can feel like opening a time capsule.

 

[Meganium]

I used to write a journal in high school One book for each year. I found it amazing because my writing style evolved from freshman year to senior year. I ended up burning them... mainly because what I wrote in there was C R I N G E.

I've bought a ton of notebooks that I had no idea what to do with them. I know at some point I will want to go back to journaling...I just need that *spark*.

 

[Corrin]

I don't because I find it doesn't really help. Now, scrapbooking, I wouldn't mind getting into! I like seeing how creative people can be.
But I digress, I'm one of those people who has to talk about my feelings with another person.

 

[PoryKid575]

I've tried a few times but I'll often miss a few entries and feel overwhelmed at the prospect of recapping everything, which turns into more time without writing which compounds the problem. The last entry from my current journal is from June 30th, but I've slowly been working on a massive entry to catch myself up and hopefully get back on track.

 

[Sheep]

I actually bought a journal and some journaling accessories like stickers, pens, markers, etc not long ago..! But I haven't started. Mainly because I want to have an Instamax camera or something similar to print pictures and put them in, otherwise the journal seems bare. But I just can't justify the price so I'll probably just have to make do and use what I have, lol. Maybe some day that camera will be mine..

 

[RadEmpoleon]

I did try journaling some time ago- about September 2022 to June 2023. I just used a composition book, 1 page per day. I also liked including a quote of the day- something funny someone said, a song lyric, a random meme, etc. My issue was that I wouldn't start writing until the end of the day, and it would take me over an hour to recall my day and write everything down. I wrote complete sentences- sure, jotting down little bullet points could've been sufficient, but I feel like that's how I forget small details. After a while it became too much of a hassle to write full sentences, so I resorted to bullet points that I would "totally write down when I get a chance" (that never happened).

I do want to try picking it up again, but I don't think I have such motivation anymore. I do like to read through my old entries every now and then.

 

[_confused_piplup_]

I am good at convincing myself that I can stick to keeping things going, but in the end I always drop them. I did have a secret diary where I used to write things, but like 2/3 times every year. It was a weird diary for me, because it started as a diary where to write all the things I desired to have, then it became a scientific journal (I had the triops game, where you had to hatch eggs of this small animal and I wrote some pages about the technical details and the progress I had made), then it became a travel journal. This is a funny story, It was 2009 I think and we went on a small vacation for Easter (I was 9). 3 days and each day was a different city (Lucca, Pisa, Florence). So, basically the idea was to write one page of the diary for each city. But after the first one, I let 2 white pages to write when I came back home and they're still blank lol.
After that, it actually became a secret diary. Around 2020 the pages finished and I bought some small notebooks where I kept writing. At some point I started journaling, almost everyday for like 1, max 2 months. Then of course I stopped. It wasn't bad honestly, it made me realize that each day allows us to feel different things and each day matters. But it requires too much effort for me, so I stopped. I am not good at being constant. I try to write on this notebook as much as I can and I eventually manage to do a 2/3 months report, but sometimes I even write 2 or 3 times in a month.

 

[Tsutarja]

i've tried journaling in the form of blogging but i can just never get it to stick for some reason

 

[Setsuna]

I'm kinda with Meganium on this, I had a diary I found when I was in elementary school and it was funny going through it and remembering what me and my life were like back then. I remember one of the entries was about how I didn't like this kid at school cause he bullied me. One would definitely call it cringe, but it's funny thinking about it now. I like keeping notes about things but it's more like I'd rather have a to-do list rather than a log of what I did and thought. For that kind of thing I'll go to social media and make my account into a journal. I've got a private account where I'll just say whatever comes to mind, whether it's just a shower thought or emotionally charged, and I'll use it to look back at how my life was a while ago and be proud I made it through that stuff.

 

[Delta Crowned Sword]

I don't have experience of doing this. Because I like to keep my thoughts in my mind, and destroy the negative ones with time. I might not remember all events as such, but can sometimes remember the people with whom I had contacted in the past for decent amount of time, and that triggers the chain reaction which leads to vague memories with them.

If I am needed to take reflections of my past results, then I jot down the key points which caused me to fail. Go through them for 6-7 days until it sticks in the mind.

It just feels boring to do this, for me. Many events had so far, and many more will happen; so no point in keeping the records for them. On other side, why should I be keeping bad memories in the records, if I had learnt from that ?

Actually I am not much interested in remembering each and every people and events. Therefore doing Journaling is very tough and tiring process.

Most good things do not stick in memories, but negative experiences tend to have lasting impact. Hence it's better if I manage to nullify that impact sooner.

 

[Juno]

The only thing close to regular journaling I did was in the 4th grade, when a few friends and I decided to do like a sisterhood of the travelling pants thing minus the pants part, where we just shared a journal that we each kept for a week and then passed to the next girl the next week and so on. I think there were 4 of us so it was never proper journaling, I'd have it maybe one week a month if that, but it was very fun!

It was half scrapbook half journal, iirc the front was regular journaling whichhh we were in the 4th grade so a lot of it was just like 'hey guys I'm in class now I'm so bored' or 'with my family, my mom is yelling at me to do something' etc, riveting stuff. But the back pages we had photos and ticket stubs and that was kinda cute - I actually think I was the last person to write in it so I probably still have it somewhere!

I think I never had the motivation to write just for me or know what to write if I knew no one else is going to be reading it so I never tried to keep a journal just for myself.

 

[Megan]

I guess you can call it that? I write words into a book. Though, over the years it has been reduced to just a couple of "buzzwords". So a daily entry be boiled down to "work, buying stuff, watching videos, reading books" (technically some of them are reduced to even a single word just to "save space"). I've been doing that for a couple years. Funnily enough, it always boils down to the same stuff. And it's definitely not driving me nuts! <_<