It’s one of those things I’ve never talked about with other people, the most I’ve really been exposed to journal keeping in pop culture is Doug Funny. People don’t talk about their personal journals.
Ever since I was a teenager I’ve sometimes felt compelled to write about major events, and over the years this has become the habit of keeping a journal that I write in almost every day, and sometimes I go back and read old entries. “What was I doing this time last year?” I also sometimes keep notes or such intentionally for future reference.
So, if you keep a journal, do you go back and read it? Why?
Seldom unless I want to revisit or check something specific. I think journaling is more about digesting things than documenting things.
I’ve definitely done that, just started writing or typing just to process something. Though I also do a lot of brainstorming and planning in my journal.
Does syslog and journalctl count?
I don’t keep journals but I do read some of my old whatsapp chats from time to time. Helps that I still have mine from 2013. Just a fun way to look back at what was going on in my life at that point in time, or to see how my relationships with people have changed over the years.
My journal app has a feature for On This Day. I visit it sparingly. I have used it extensively in fits and spurts, so much so that I even added that functionality to my blog and started visiting it.
Stopped when it got too embarrassing. 😅
Which app? Is it available on Android?
Day One and yes. Though android users often complain it’s not feature complete wrt the iOS version.
I’ve journalled for a few years in the form of a bunch of markdown files. Occasionally I’ll read back or search for things to help remember things I’m not recalling clearly.
I started to journal about 3 months ago when my anxiety and depression started to get out of control. Sometimes I will go back and read the previous day or two to reflect on things, but that is it. Some of the stuff I wrote, especially at the beginning are too painful to go back and re-read now.
Kept a journal for the last 20 years and I write maybe a million words a year. I don’t read old entries because I don’t have time!
With my mental health journal, no, never.
For my hobby journal, all the time! It’s neat to see how my tastes and activities have evolved, and sometimes when things get frustrating it’s good to have the reminder of why I loved doing it in the first place.
Post journal clarity. No thank you.
Yes, but it’s been more than 6 months since I’ve written in mine. I used it mainly to document my life and deal with mental issues. The past six months have been mostly daily struggles and ordinary life so I’ve had no incentive to go back and journal. I should fix this, grab the keyboard and resume!
I rarely do. My life has been such to give me little incentive to go through it in any degree again.
I’m a Thelemite, and journal writing is kind of a big deal in our religion. Not only do I review my own journal for insights about myself, but I also occasionally have other trusted Thelemites take a look at it to give me feedback. It has been one of those tools that I originally thought wouldn’t be useful, and then turned out to be invaluable.
That isn’t to say that I journal constantly though. Sometimes I’m good and do it all the time, but then I may go several weeks to months with nothing. Remembering to write tells me something about my mental state, and not writing also tells me something about my mental state, and all of that is a useful tool to understand yourself better.
The times that my journal has become fuel for my own self loathing, I have found it useful to talk to other people about what they’ve been writing in theirs. Once you take a peek into another persons interior world, you realize that we all have our own struggles and all fail sometimes—that realization, that you are no better or worse than anyone else, can be extremely powerful.
For anyone who is interested and doesn’t know what Thelema is, here is a useful link. There are dozens of us! Dozens!
https://www.thelema101.com/intro
And 93’s to my fellow weirdos who do know what it is.
I can’t, it’s in secret code (my handwriting is atrocious :)
But like others said, it would be good to take up the habit again. Plenty of things going on in my life where I could benefit from a little reflection.Sometimes, although I usually don’t write that often, unless it’s a dream or something emotionally significant since that’s what my therapist recommended journaling for.
When I look back on entries it’s usually to revisit a dream a/o interpretation, or thoughts about/experiences I had with people who aren’t an active part of my life anymore
Sometimes. But it’s rare.
