#206: 4 Reasons to Keep a Journal
I’m a big fan of journaling. The great thing about it is that it means something slightly different to everyone. Some people chronicle their time, recording the events of the day. Andy Warhol kept a journal where he recorded who he met and how much he spent on various things. Others focus their journaling efforts on reflection. It gives them a way of processing things in their own time. Your journal can be whatever you want it to be. It can also change over time.
In this post, I’ll cover four reasons why you should consider giving journaling a try.
Although many people don’t consider their journaling a part of their daily word count, it’s still writing. Even though you may never publish any of it, you’re still going through the motions of putting your thoughts on the page.
Journaling is a great way to warm up for a day of writing. It puts you in the right state of mind. In a way, the product of journaling isn’t important. It’s the process of doing it that counts. So you can let go and just write. It’s quite a liberating feeling, to be honest.
For a long time, I used to free-write every morning to get my brain started. I wrote about 2,000 words in my journal in roughly 30 minutes before moving on to the real writing. I should start doing it again.
When you think about it, you don’t get that much space to really think and reflect during a regular day. There’s way too many things going on. The world is filled with distractions.
Writing things down forces you to reckon with thoughts that you’d normally brush aside or ignore altogether. This can be beneficial for your mental health and to make sure you don’t end up sleepwalking through your life. I’m terrified of that, and journaling is one thing that helps me ensure that I live on my own terms.
I get so many ideas when I’m journaling. It’s not even funny. There’s something about writing that helps me think.
When I can’t quite figure something out, I’ll open my journal and just describe the situation. I write out the different options that I’ve considered so far, and almost immediately, new ideas come up.
Maybe it’s because writing forces you to slow down and sit with the problem. Maybe it’s because as you write, you’re freeing up space in your brain for new ideas.
I can’t say I fully understand it, but it works.
Taking Photos of Your Mind
All of us will have countless photographs to look at and reminisce about when we’re old — perhaps even too many. But will you remember the person that you used to be? The anxieties you had and the things you were dealing with?
Memory is notoriously unreliable, particularly when it comes to things that you don’t share with anyone.
When you write in a journal, you’re capturing the state of your mind at that very moment. Reading those sentences in 20, 30 or 60 years will transport you right back to the time when you wrote them.
Your journal is like an album of photos taken from the inside.
As I said at the beginning of the post, there are no rules:
You don’t have to journal every day.
You don’t have to write about your day.
You don’t have to write about how you feel.
There’s no minimum word count.
You can change things up as often as you like.
Try a bunch of things and see what works for you. Journaling is basically writing for yourself, and it’s such a versatile tool. It may grow into a habit that changes your life.
Hi, I’m Radek 👋. I’m a writer, software engineer and the founder of Writing Analytics — an editor and writing tracker designed to help you beat writer’s block and create a sustainable writing routine.
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#205: It’s just Writing, July 2021
#204: What Will Your Story Look Like?, July 2021
#203: It Will Take Longer Than You Think, July 2021
#202: What Should You Focus on as a Writer?, July 2021
#201: How to Create a Compelling Story, June 2021
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