Record Your Own Story With A Journal
Remembering your past, day-by-day
Do you keep a journal? One of those gorgeous notepads that have this invisible invitation to just write and write?
Or do you journal electronically? In an app?
That doesn’t sound quite so romantic, does it? But they both have the same end goal.
I’ve been journaling since the middle of January 2021 and haven’t missed a day.
That was my top priority. MY goal, if you like.
I will keep a journal, but I must write something every single day. It was a challenge, and one I wasn’t sure I could do.
There were times I almost missed, but as of today I have an unbroken streak.
Why?
There are two questions here:
- Why do I write a journal?
- Why do I have the goal?
Writing the journaling has helped me to keep my mind straight. I don’t write anything about gratitude and I don’t set out any goals within it.
I use it as a memory keeper.
I, essentially, am recording my own history!
I love to look back and see what has happened, how have things changed.
Oh! Alright… I do write personal stuff about my feelings or frustrations (usually about the children!) but it’s not the main goal.
As for the goal to write every day? This is so that I would actually do it!
Otherwise, one day I would forget, and that would stretch to two days, and more, and then I’d never pick it up again!
Even if there isn’t much to report, I will write something in the daily entry.
However, I don’t want it to sound monotonous; e.g. woke up, went to work, finished work etc…
That’s just boring!!
Writing something fresh does mean I need to think about the day more deeply.
I have considered writing a “3 Good Things” section, (naming 3 good things that happened that day) but I fear that might get repetitive. I may just do that occasionally, but not daily.
Where do I write?
Earlier, I alluded to a fancy looking physical diary, or notebook, that can. be used to record your journal entries.
I use the Day One app to save my story, and I do this in conjunction with Drafts.
I find it much quicker to write my notes and the details outside of Day One, and then run an Action to import it.
However, once in Day One, I will add any photos or video to the entry.
The Future
Will I move away from Day One when Apple releases their Journal to the world?
Until I’ve had a look at it then I don’t know. It does mean another lock into the Apple ecosystem; at least with Day One, the data is portable. Whether Apple make it like this is doubtful.
Try it
If you’ve never written a journal before, then why not give it a go?
Take the opportunity to write down your own thoughts, what you’ve been doing, add some photos and build your history.
Whether on paper, or in an app, the important thing is just to get started.
It’s extremely cathartic.
Reminder…
Writing a journal is good for:
- positive mental health
- great for remembering what happened
- including photos and videos, which adds to the memories
Thank you for reading
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