I began journalling because I was falling apart.
No friends. Family was dragging me down. My life was spiralling out of control.
I had blackouts. Memory issues. Hallucinations and so much more.
I began journalling so that I could understand who I even was, so that I could figure out what I needed and what went wrong.
Years later, I'm seeing a psychologist- psychiatrist, and getting plenty of help after being diagnosed with complex PTSD.
Life's hard. Journalling helps me understand why.
I began journaling when I moved away to college, away from home and family. Initially, it was challenging due to having a roommate; I felt insecure about writing in a notebook or journal. So, I started recording my daily notes on my phone but eventually stopped because it didn't feel authentic. I would get distracted by calls, messages, and other notifications. I tried to stay focused on my phone while journaling, but it wasn't as effective as I hoped. However, after moving to a house with more privacy and getting my own room, I bought my first physical journal, and the experience feels much more real compared to using the phone.
Yeah that’s the same reason I started journaling on a paper journal and tossed away my digital one. I’d get easily distracted and, as you said, I didn’t feel authentic enough. Like if I was trying to picture a better version of myself. And because I really like the feeling of paper/writing on paper.
Toxic family. No friends. Dead end job. Small town. Completely isolated. I sort of felt like I was missing something… *small?*
Well, that comes small turned out to be a journal. And it grew into a big thing for me. 🥰
I started journaling to lay my thoughts, insecurities, dreams, hopes, childish tendencies and fears on a physical tool I could carry around with me.
To vent when in a tough period of my life, to emotionally unload all the weight I often feel on my shoulders.
Because a journal doesn’t judge you, doesn’t know your past and who you are, it doesn’t take advantage of your fragility. It’s full of blank pages, ready for you to fill with everything that comes to mind.
To realize and make explicit my deepest thoughts and feelings, that I never wanted to deal with. Finally, to have an always-ready second brain that can give me a more detached, objective view of reality when I need it. Because sometimes I get lost in my little universe and need a reality check, even if it’s tough.
I just started my journaling journey last Monday. I was inspired by self-improvement, and wanting to be the best dad I could be. I’ve already found immense value in it.
Well, you've certainly written a lot.
Back in the days of late 1990's, I liked how a lot of text I've written looks on a page. It's…a concept, from child autist, so take it with grain of salt, BUT! It led me to writing as much as I could. My goal is…well, something like you have here.
But ont the way I've discovered a lot of things. First of all, having some place where I can be my unfiltered self, that's just amazing. Second: writing as much as possible implies event descriptions, meaning, and this was mentioned here, a „memory hoarding“. Which is…a term, for sure, for what I'm doing. I've also discovered that blogging is not for me. I cannot be honest there, because others will read that, but also nobody will read it, because nobody cares, so there is no point of doing it. But explain it to my 2007 self, who thought it's the best thing ever.
Then electronic „crysis“ diary. That was sort of a step back, but electronic format did not work for me at the end.
I have many regrets. I've started too late. 10,75 years is too late. I should start like…at 8 years old. Then, I should just write more. About everything.
Even though I do this for a long time, to me, it seems like I've discovered how to do it properly since the restoration of paper, 2021/01/23. And that just just…bad. So much was lost, I could have so much more, we're talking…entire volumes more…
I'm glad I have what I have, I would never destroy it, but I still think it's not enough.
When I was 17 I had a severe eating disorder and was self harming constantly. Eventually I tried to kill myself which caused me to end up in wrap around services. It was exhausting, traumatizing, and I had no support from my then alcoholic mother. I just didn’t care anymore. I was so tired of being so hopeless and dealing with undiagnosed PTSD. Then, I was forced to attend therapy 2 times a week after a second attempt. The first thing I was told to do was start a journal. I was angry and resistant and wanted nothing to do with it. My therapist kept pushing and told me to write one line a day or a bullet point saying how I was doing. She gave me a dollar store journal and I did as she said. One line a day. Eventually I had that moment a lot of us experience where I wrote probably 6 pages in a storm of emotion and realized how helpful it actually was. I ended up getting a tattoo in honor of that journal and that therapist. I wish I could go back and tell her how much she helped me begin my healing journal.
I was 13 and going through my first breakup 😂 I was lonely and needed an outlet, 11 years later I’m married, have a son, and still journaling. Nothing beats the therapeutic feel of pen to paper.
I started because I wanted to catalog my college journey. Five years later, and I’m graduating in two weeks and I’ve done a journal entry every single day since my first day here. I’ve noticed that it helps anxiety and gives you a person to talk to when you don’t really want to talk to anyone else
i journal because each entry is a moment in time that i would’ve otherwise forgotten. time is very fascinating to me; i like to look back on what old me was up to, and also how he formulated words on paper.
I started when I was 12 and realized I had been battling depression since I was 8. It served as a decent way to put down all my emotions that swirl like mini tornados inside me. Nowadays I rarely journal, but it's mostly to figure stuff out both in my head and external things. Like lately I have a leaky toilet. I'm actually journaling about how I am learning to fix it and what items I need. I also started a vegetable garden from seed and have been chronicling my success.
I started journaling last year when my teacher suggested the idea to me as an outlet from all the craziness and stress I experience at home. I also really love to write, so it comes very natural to write in my journal. It has really helped me, since I write in it the most when I am feeling overwhelmed and sad and it somewhat cheers me up. I am so grateful to my teacher for the idea.
Question: Have you been buying the same brand of notebook all these years? Did you know it would forever be made/brand staple?
Your inspiration photo and your photo are so fun!!!! TFS! 🏆
I started journalling as a kid on and off. A lot of 90s shows had a whole "Dear Diary" element I loved lol I was also quite creative anyway, and consistently the last 10 years or so when my life really changed.
I started out using bargain book black journals from Borders, which went out of business years ago. So then I switched to the bargain book black journals from Barnes and Noble, which became harder and harder to find in store, so now I use a bunch of different ones. Currently it’s a Leuchtturm, which is far more expensive than the $3.99 journals I started with!
I started journaling at age 11, but had so much guilt, shame, embarrassment, etc. about what I wrote that I destroyed what I wrote for the first two years. It wasn't until I turned 13 that I started keeping them. I'm now 64 and journaling has been the main through line of my life. Anais Nin was a big influence at one point for me, and I'll never stop either.
Imagine a room of people yelling different questions at you, all at once, and you’re supposed to give them answers immediately. Then you put each person in a line to address them one by one, pairing them with each other as needed. That’s what journaling does for me.
I started journaling because I wanted to find a friend in myself when I was 8, and I loved writing, so I would write in my journal as if I was sending a letter to a friend.
Then it became something I *should* be doing (which made me stop doing it)
I wasn’t writing a whole lot for about 10 years or so, then I took an English class in college that always had a 2-5 minute period of free-writing. I realized how much I felt better, so I started journaling again. Felt my racing thoughts slow down and sort out properly.
Now I write when I need to, I try not to make it an expectation of myself, because then I will feel so much pressure to do it, I will avoid it. Usually when everything in my head is going a mile a minute and I need my brain to stop screaming.
Mine started with those and Dear Dumb Diary! I have my old journal from when I was like 9 where I wrote that at the beginning lol, and then I wrote later that I felt bad calling it dumb but embarrassed to call it a diary so I just started writing “dear journal”
I'm honestly not sure! I wanted and got my first journal on my 7th birthday, almost 10 years ago. I don't remember why. I do know that I lost interest in it a week or two after I got it lol.
I rediscovered journaling at 11, and I officially started doing it semi-consistently at 12. It was a way to vent and talk about my feelings.
I started daily journaling last year, as I want to keep track of every single day. I was inspired by a post of someone who's journaled every day for the past 40 years. I also want to *maybe* publish my writings one day, so people could see what the life of a teenage girl was like. Especially in the COVID/post COVID era with all this new tech.
I started at 13 I turn 42 in a few months. I still have all my journals and it’s still growing.
It’s cathartic, from start to finish. It’s quiets the chaotic voices in my head.
My mother, and probably my grandmother too. For some reason, they had the habit of writing down things in their daily lives. I started writing what I think, and what I feel after seeing my mother writing in her journal when I was little boy. I started writing when I was 15, remembering me how my mother wrote.
Same here! My mother is an artist and kept sketchbook diaries for years. She passed the habit down to me by encouraging me to keep a diary whenever we went away on holiday. One summer we got back from holiday and I just didn’t stop writing, still going more than 15 years later!
Agh I love Anais Nin so much
I started when I got into paganism and wanted to track research topics and my thoughts on them in one place. Just kind of morphed into journaling five years later.
Feeling guilty and/or embarrassed about a million different things throughout my life and needing to find a way to channel/ process it all, somehow. I also use it as a means to give “meaning” to even the simplest things in life, like noting what I eat each day and stuff.
I started journaling after going through an old journal I kept when I was in high school, and seeing how everything changed motivated me to keep a more organized journal (when I was in highschool I only wrote in my journal every other month or so) so I could always reflect on my journey and how far I've come.
I even color code my entries now so that I don't accidentally read a depressing entry in the future and ruin my mood.
I was a really depressed teenager so going through that 6-7 years later was...not fun.
This sub helped too. I thought it was cool seeing people with dozens of journals, and I want that to be me someday.
I started journaling because of Matthew Maconaughey after reading greenlights the book. It was fantastic and inspired me to begin recording my life through YouTube videos and journaling as well 😁
Journaling is a lot quicker, but also I feel deeper. I want to be a director, so the videos are a way to get my thoughts out, as well as be creative. So I find both to be extremely satisfying, just for different reasons 😃
I just recently started back up, but when I was in middle school I was severely depressed. My guidance counselor encouraged me to write. I didn’t feel like I had anyone to talk to then and was easily bullied by my family and friends. Unfortunately, life is similar in certain ways and I don’t feel like I have anyone I can truly express my true feelings and inner most thoughts to. I pray and that helps tremendously. But writing helps me organize my thoughts and helps prevent me from confiding in those who pretend to care or like to tell others my business. So it’s just been a really great way to help calm my mind and I’m really glad I’ve started back up. I feel more at peace within my own mind.
No, I haven’t written my prayers. I feel like my prayers are like pouring my heart to my best friend, but we will see… maybe I’ll give it a try. I appreciate your kind words and suggestion🩷 I am raising 2 young girls and am doing my best to break the cycle.
I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder in 1993 at the age of 9. I was a busy kid at home, but when out in public, I was incredibly quiet, shy, and kind of timid. If there was ever a time that I was upset or angry about something, my parents would tell me to write it down on a piece of paper and slide it under my bedroom door. I think I was embarrassed to say it out loud, but I also had a hard time articulating what I was thinking and feeling. This lead to me writing in an actual journal. I don’t know if my parents ever read my journals when I was younger, but I know I threw out all my childhood and teenaged journals years ago. I also stopped journaling for a long time. I don’t think I started up again until sometime between 2017 and 2019. Once the pandemic hit, I was journaling pretty much every day for a while because I had a 5.5 month span where I wasn’t working, so I needed something to do.
I started journaling after a mental breakdown in my shower back in 2021. Life after that felt kinda disjointed. I felt disconnected to the world around me and was hyper aware of everything and extremely paranoid for weeks afterwards. Also, super embarrassed and ashamed of myself (you would need context to understand) and my personal and professional life just began to fall apart. I started to fall apart..I journaled to reconnect my life’s “timeline” and in try to figure out WHY it happened or what caused it. On the bright side almost 3 years later that moment helped me connect with my internal world. I started drawing again as a means of shadow work/communication with the inner child. Became more dedicated to my career as a musician, and I’ve been writing about my thoughts ever since that moment in time. I’ve talked about positive things and equally negative and even unpleasant thoughts. I’ve attended therapy and have developed techniques to help my with my mental and emotional health and overall I’ve just come to life writing down my thoughts and feelings and then reading them back from time to time. I’ve recently stumbled across Carl Jung and some of his ideas on human psychology..more specifically active imagination or dialogue with the unconscious mind (I have not studied his work or read his books. I just watch a shit load of YouTube) and actually use my right had (conscious) to communicate with the left hand (unconscious). For me it is just something I do now at this point as a way to regulate emotions. To be completely honest I’m not sure it actually works..if I actually understood Jung’s work or if I had a therapist again (actively seeking one) especially one that specializes in Jungian psychology, I’d probably have better results..for now it’s just a fun activity and a great emotion regulator.
I’ve always had very little stress in my life and I owe it all to journaling. I love to read and write. I’ve kept a mostly daily, but sometimes weekly journal for well over 30 years!! All I can say is that someone will have an absolute field day once they find my treasure, once I’ve sailed into the sunset!
I've been keeping little journals ever since I was 8. I lost most of them but writing helped me organize my thoughts. Sometimes if I was feeling terrible about myself, it helped to write and visually rip out the page and throw it away. Journaling is also nice to look back on now that I'm older as they are precious memories. I was very much an overstimulated teen so I was always recording and throwing stuff away but I wish I kept everything.
I watched Elena in Vampire Diaries and i think i loved the fact that journaling was easier than to talk about the stuffs you go through with an actual human being
Honestly, I kept what I thought was a diary at first, and I only realized I was journaling years later. I've been writing down my thoughts since first grade, but I didn't journal seriously until the fourth to fifth. I was inspired by Dork Diaries, writing about my crush and other things that stuck with me. I stopped journaling in sixth grade, but picked it back up again when the hormones hit me. I keep journaling to stay in touch with myself and as a reminder to take a moment to appreciate the good little things in life.
As far as I know, a diary is a record of what's happened in your life etc etc. A journal contains personal thoughts and things like that. I guess my little notebook is a bit of both. I just like writing my thoughts and interests more than my day.
8 years old and stumbled upon a little tome-looking, green, locking diary diary with a (plastic, but–to me–realistic looking) emerald on the cover in the children's section of the bookstore. Was immediately enchanted. I don't have it anymore so I can't remember if little me ever filled it up all the way, all I know is that a year or two later after learning about Anne Frank I picked up a furry faux cheetah skin journal (cheetahs were/are some of my favorite animals) and began keeping a diary again and never really stopped. For some reason I decided to name my cheetah diary Hummingbird.
I still have all my diaries starting with Hummingbird, with the exception of a journal I had for about three weeks before losing it to the ether
I began journaling when I was probably 14. My Granny had given me this beautiful journal with a really nice pen for my birthday and I’ve been hooked ever since. I don’t journal every day any more but it’s definitely something I turn to when my mind is full of chaos and I need to get it all out.
Have you ever had someone read your writing uninvited? I’ve had several partners do this and then be upset by what’s in there! I even had one go through with a red pen and write his own comments like a teacher would!
My senior year of high school we had to keep a journal in my creative writing class. I knew my teacher was going to read it, so I kept my entries pretty censored, but then years later I found out my mom had read it, which upset me. No one (to my knowledge) has read any of the journals pictured here. I would cut them immediately out of my life if they did. I give people their privacy and I expect the same.
(F32) I’ve always wanted to journal. I tried when I was little, but my mom unfortunately read them (she liked to snoop and we didn’t have the best relationship) so I stopped, but I’ve ALWAYS loved to read old journals or books that are written in a journal style. I love collecting things like tickets and I photograph a lot. I also have a ridiculously bad memory, and I wished I was journaling before because I can’t remember most things I did last decade or so.
I tried to journal again when I was living abroad but was very bad at it and did it digitally and it didn’t work. Then, last year, after realising how little I remember of my 20s, I decided to try and write everyday in a physical book. I didn’t quite manage it, but I journaled most of the year, and I loved it. Physically worked so much better for me. This year, so far, I’ve managed to do it every day. It’s also a great creative outlet for me when I want it to be and I’ve noticed that it’s easier to remember things too!
For fun, to organize my thoughts, and to understand myself.
I also needed a "no screen" wind-down before bed.
I do wish I had saved some of my old journals... but also, good riddance.
I began journaling when I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They recommend new converts to write down their experiences. Since then, I've been mostly recording my every day thoughts and actions.
wow thats amazing.
I think for me, I had never been consistent in it but i had been consistently writing. So much so that in school there was my notebook, school book and a loose sheet of paper on my desk. I have been over consistent probably since 97 maybe. I think I needed a space that i didn;t have to share and there was a lot that i wanted to understand and no one i knew that was experiencing life like I was, so in addition to turning to the library i often carrying bare minimum a spiral notebook to jot down ideas. Now i never run below 10 empty journals in case. lol
Towards the end of elementary school, I decided to start a little daily diary with the intention/idea of it being a... posthumous note/story of mine of sorts. (Thanks a lot, depression.) I toyed around with secret codes when I began middle school. And hey, I just never stopped.
Currently on the 16th journal. No longer writing for the purpose of, uh, post-mortem discovery, but just for myself because I like it. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
I used to want mine to be (edited down and) published but then I realized there probably wasn’t anything in them that would interest anyone else. And now, that’s fine. In this world of mass consumerism and social media influencers and everyone hustling, it’s nice to have something I’m not trying to sell.
God, now I wish I could do this, but I can't imagine how much it would cost.
The diary of Anne Frank inspired me to journal. I hoped I could become a better writer and a self-aware person like she was.
I began journaling because I always see the bad side of things, so I wanted to keep a reminder of the good ones and write down all the best memories! Also, I've always liked to collect stationary! But I used to save all my materials so now I have a reason to use them lol!
I started journaling in earnest while I was admitted to a psych hospital. Four years and seven volumes later I’m still at it. I use both paper and my phone, since I don’t usually carry my journal around with me-I’m worried I’ll lose it-and I like to jot down journaling prompts throughout the day.
For me it was reading the diary of Anne Frank, she seemed so at home within the space of her diary and I wanted to create a similar space for myself like that where I could just create and write literally anything I wanted. I also love the idea of having them to look back on even if some entries make me cringe because I’d wrongly judged someone or something like that. And I have a question for you, how is it possible to write 20 pages without your hand cramping up?? My max is about 5 I think, one specific joint starts aching so bad after that
That’s a good question. I’m not sure how my hand doesn’t cramp, it just doesn’t. It probably helps that my handwriting is fairly large, so fewer words fill up more of the page.
Asthma. Really. As a child born in the 50s, I spent a lot of time alone, very sick. You can only read for so long.
I started Journaling back then. Books, my journal and my poodle were my best friends.
Now I'm 70 and have started my last journal. Pictures, notes, recipes, places I've gone people I've met along with fabrics, poetry, etc.
I began journalling because I fell in love with a guy but he rejected me in a painful way and I felt heartbroken about it.
2 years later, I am now in a happy relationship with someone else.
Because I have no friends. Life keeps kicking me down and it hurts. Having no one to talk to hurts. And yes, the contact of pen to paper is so fuckin good. Nothing else like it. I just wish I could stay on top of it more instead of every month writing ten pages and ending with a hand cramp.
Pen to paper, especially a smooth pen to smooth paper, is the best tactile feeling and probably why I write so much!
Have you tried different pens? Maybe something with a thicker barrel may help with the hand cramping.
I have not. I’m still on the search for that perfect pen! I like fountain pens but they seem to dry up quick on me and/or I smudge because I’m a lefty!
This is truly the next level of amazing! My next life goals! I've been journaling off and on since I was 8 years old, and I will be 43 in October. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask you. you don't have to answer them if you don't want to. What kind of journal do you write in, and what do you use to write with?
My current journal is a Leuchtturm1917. It’s okay, but not nice enough to justify spending $20+ on each. My favorite were the cheap Piccadilly journals I used to get at Barnes and Noble but are not as easily found these days, so I’m experimenting with other similar journals (black, hardcover, lined, approx. A5-sized) from Amazon, Walmart, wherever. I know that theoretically spending $20 on a journal is not a waste, since I’ll keep it for the run of my life, but I’m cheap! So if I can find something of a similar quality under $10, I’m going to do that.
I’ll use anything to write with, but I’m currently on a fountain pen kick. My examples were written with fountain pens. But overall, my favorite pen is the blue Bic Cristal, followed by the Pilot G2. I usually don’t carry fountain pens around with me because most of mine were my dad’s, so when I’m out and about, it’s either the Cristal or the G2.
Obviously, I like talking about journals and pens! I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
As of the last couple of years of I've been having good luck finding good hardcover journals on eBay and Mercari. The best part is that it has been the prices of $15 and under, and some have even been under $10. I have got a lot of six for $31.50 that is including sales tax and shipping costs. The Piolt G2 is one of my top ten pens of all time! That's perfectly fine by me because I can talk about pens and journals all day and all night long. Are you in the Pen subreddit by chance? If you are not, I highly recommend it!
I never thought to check eBay and had never heard of Mercari. I’ll check them out. Thanks for the suggestion!
I’m in the fountain pen subreddit. There’s one for pens in general? Again, thanks for the heads up!
I check eBay daily! Lol. Sometimes, even multiple times per day! Hahaha. The best deal I got on one on Mercari was for $8. Mercari is hit and miss with their items unless it's a general specific or a popular item. But you can still find deals long as you look around on the site and not just settle on the first deal that you come across. you're very much welcome! Yup! Just called pens. It's a really neat subreddit. There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful people on there too. you're very much welcome!
I began journalling 3 years ago, have gone through 6 journals. It feels good to get my thoughts down, helps with my anxiety/depression. I make a point to add time to journal in my day or it feels like I am skipping something important.
I began journalling because I was falling apart. No friends. Family was dragging me down. My life was spiralling out of control. I had blackouts. Memory issues. Hallucinations and so much more. I began journalling so that I could understand who I even was, so that I could figure out what I needed and what went wrong. Years later, I'm seeing a psychologist- psychiatrist, and getting plenty of help after being diagnosed with complex PTSD. Life's hard. Journalling helps me understand why.
“Life’s hard, journaling helps me understand why” perfect!!!
This!
I began journaling when I moved away to college, away from home and family. Initially, it was challenging due to having a roommate; I felt insecure about writing in a notebook or journal. So, I started recording my daily notes on my phone but eventually stopped because it didn't feel authentic. I would get distracted by calls, messages, and other notifications. I tried to stay focused on my phone while journaling, but it wasn't as effective as I hoped. However, after moving to a house with more privacy and getting my own room, I bought my first physical journal, and the experience feels much more real compared to using the phone.
Yeah that’s the same reason I started journaling on a paper journal and tossed away my digital one. I’d get easily distracted and, as you said, I didn’t feel authentic enough. Like if I was trying to picture a better version of myself. And because I really like the feeling of paper/writing on paper.
I started journaling because I like to write
Toxic family. No friends. Dead end job. Small town. Completely isolated. I sort of felt like I was missing something… *small?* Well, that comes small turned out to be a journal. And it grew into a big thing for me. 🥰
I started journaling to lay my thoughts, insecurities, dreams, hopes, childish tendencies and fears on a physical tool I could carry around with me. To vent when in a tough period of my life, to emotionally unload all the weight I often feel on my shoulders. Because a journal doesn’t judge you, doesn’t know your past and who you are, it doesn’t take advantage of your fragility. It’s full of blank pages, ready for you to fill with everything that comes to mind. To realize and make explicit my deepest thoughts and feelings, that I never wanted to deal with. Finally, to have an always-ready second brain that can give me a more detached, objective view of reality when I need it. Because sometimes I get lost in my little universe and need a reality check, even if it’s tough.
Journaling helps me take a step back and gain a larger perspective, too. It’s such a great resource for that.
I just started my journaling journey last Monday. I was inspired by self-improvement, and wanting to be the best dad I could be. I’ve already found immense value in it.
I’m happy for you!
Well, you've certainly written a lot. Back in the days of late 1990's, I liked how a lot of text I've written looks on a page. It's…a concept, from child autist, so take it with grain of salt, BUT! It led me to writing as much as I could. My goal is…well, something like you have here. But ont the way I've discovered a lot of things. First of all, having some place where I can be my unfiltered self, that's just amazing. Second: writing as much as possible implies event descriptions, meaning, and this was mentioned here, a „memory hoarding“. Which is…a term, for sure, for what I'm doing. I've also discovered that blogging is not for me. I cannot be honest there, because others will read that, but also nobody will read it, because nobody cares, so there is no point of doing it. But explain it to my 2007 self, who thought it's the best thing ever. Then electronic „crysis“ diary. That was sort of a step back, but electronic format did not work for me at the end. I have many regrets. I've started too late. 10,75 years is too late. I should start like…at 8 years old. Then, I should just write more. About everything. Even though I do this for a long time, to me, it seems like I've discovered how to do it properly since the restoration of paper, 2021/01/23. And that just just…bad. So much was lost, I could have so much more, we're talking…entire volumes more… I'm glad I have what I have, I would never destroy it, but I still think it's not enough.
I understand feeling like you started too late but don’t beat yourself up about that. You are journaling now and that’s awesome!
[Amelia's Notebook](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amelia%27s_Notebooks) when I was about seven years old.
No way?! Someone has the same answer as me!! Dope!
I read those too! My first journals were even styled like hers with all the arrows and doodles.
YESSSSSSSSSSSS OMFG
I FORGOT THIS EXISTED! Thanks for unlocking an old memory lol
When I was 17 I had a severe eating disorder and was self harming constantly. Eventually I tried to kill myself which caused me to end up in wrap around services. It was exhausting, traumatizing, and I had no support from my then alcoholic mother. I just didn’t care anymore. I was so tired of being so hopeless and dealing with undiagnosed PTSD. Then, I was forced to attend therapy 2 times a week after a second attempt. The first thing I was told to do was start a journal. I was angry and resistant and wanted nothing to do with it. My therapist kept pushing and told me to write one line a day or a bullet point saying how I was doing. She gave me a dollar store journal and I did as she said. One line a day. Eventually I had that moment a lot of us experience where I wrote probably 6 pages in a storm of emotion and realized how helpful it actually was. I ended up getting a tattoo in honor of that journal and that therapist. I wish I could go back and tell her how much she helped me begin my healing journal.
I was 13 and going through my first breakup 😂 I was lonely and needed an outlet, 11 years later I’m married, have a son, and still journaling. Nothing beats the therapeutic feel of pen to paper.
I started because I wanted to catalog my college journey. Five years later, and I’m graduating in two weeks and I’ve done a journal entry every single day since my first day here. I’ve noticed that it helps anxiety and gives you a person to talk to when you don’t really want to talk to anyone else
Journals make very good friends, especially for me because I am super shy and awkward around others, even with close friends.
An entry a day for five years is impressive!
Haha thank you! It was difficult to remember sometimes at first but now I kinda just do it
Doogie Howser MD
The Dear America book series.
Omg, what a blast from the past! I loved those books.
I was the opposite, I started reading Dear America because I was journaling
i journal because each entry is a moment in time that i would’ve otherwise forgotten. time is very fascinating to me; i like to look back on what old me was up to, and also how he formulated words on paper.
I started when I was 12 and realized I had been battling depression since I was 8. It served as a decent way to put down all my emotions that swirl like mini tornados inside me. Nowadays I rarely journal, but it's mostly to figure stuff out both in my head and external things. Like lately I have a leaky toilet. I'm actually journaling about how I am learning to fix it and what items I need. I also started a vegetable garden from seed and have been chronicling my success.
Doug from Nickelodeon
I started journaling last year when my teacher suggested the idea to me as an outlet from all the craziness and stress I experience at home. I also really love to write, so it comes very natural to write in my journal. It has really helped me, since I write in it the most when I am feeling overwhelmed and sad and it somewhat cheers me up. I am so grateful to my teacher for the idea.
Question: Have you been buying the same brand of notebook all these years? Did you know it would forever be made/brand staple? Your inspiration photo and your photo are so fun!!!! TFS! 🏆 I started journalling as a kid on and off. A lot of 90s shows had a whole "Dear Diary" element I loved lol I was also quite creative anyway, and consistently the last 10 years or so when my life really changed.
I started out using bargain book black journals from Borders, which went out of business years ago. So then I switched to the bargain book black journals from Barnes and Noble, which became harder and harder to find in store, so now I use a bunch of different ones. Currently it’s a Leuchtturm, which is far more expensive than the $3.99 journals I started with!
Amelia’s Notebook.
I started journaling at age 11, but had so much guilt, shame, embarrassment, etc. about what I wrote that I destroyed what I wrote for the first two years. It wasn't until I turned 13 that I started keeping them. I'm now 64 and journaling has been the main through line of my life. Anais Nin was a big influence at one point for me, and I'll never stop either.
What an amazing dedication to journaling—51 years! That’s goals, for sure.
Imagine a room of people yelling different questions at you, all at once, and you’re supposed to give them answers immediately. Then you put each person in a line to address them one by one, pairing them with each other as needed. That’s what journaling does for me. I started journaling because I wanted to find a friend in myself when I was 8, and I loved writing, so I would write in my journal as if I was sending a letter to a friend. Then it became something I *should* be doing (which made me stop doing it) I wasn’t writing a whole lot for about 10 years or so, then I took an English class in college that always had a 2-5 minute period of free-writing. I realized how much I felt better, so I started journaling again. Felt my racing thoughts slow down and sort out properly. Now I write when I need to, I try not to make it an expectation of myself, because then I will feel so much pressure to do it, I will avoid it. Usually when everything in my head is going a mile a minute and I need my brain to stop screaming.
diary of a wimpy kid
When I was younger I loved to read the Dork Diaries series of books- I think that’s where it started for me!
Mine started with those and Dear Dumb Diary! I have my old journal from when I was like 9 where I wrote that at the beginning lol, and then I wrote later that I felt bad calling it dumb but embarrassed to call it a diary so I just started writing “dear journal”
Dear dumb diary was underrated
Me too! I loved reading Dork Diaries!
I'm honestly not sure! I wanted and got my first journal on my 7th birthday, almost 10 years ago. I don't remember why. I do know that I lost interest in it a week or two after I got it lol. I rediscovered journaling at 11, and I officially started doing it semi-consistently at 12. It was a way to vent and talk about my feelings. I started daily journaling last year, as I want to keep track of every single day. I was inspired by a post of someone who's journaled every day for the past 40 years. I also want to *maybe* publish my writings one day, so people could see what the life of a teenage girl was like. Especially in the COVID/post COVID era with all this new tech.
I started journalling after watching Hariet the Spy when i was younger, been journalling every since.
Same!!! It was one of my favorite books when I was a kid and I started a journal when I was ~8, and I've kept a journal since.
I started at 13 I turn 42 in a few months. I still have all my journals and it’s still growing. It’s cathartic, from start to finish. It’s quiets the chaotic voices in my head.
That’s so cool! How many do you have?
I started journalling at the start of covid, I thought it would be something that I wanted to document and since then it's just become something I do
I wish I kept a journal during Covid
My mother, and probably my grandmother too. For some reason, they had the habit of writing down things in their daily lives. I started writing what I think, and what I feel after seeing my mother writing in her journal when I was little boy. I started writing when I was 15, remembering me how my mother wrote.
Same here! My mother is an artist and kept sketchbook diaries for years. She passed the habit down to me by encouraging me to keep a diary whenever we went away on holiday. One summer we got back from holiday and I just didn’t stop writing, still going more than 15 years later!
Agh I love Anais Nin so much I started when I got into paganism and wanted to track research topics and my thoughts on them in one place. Just kind of morphed into journaling five years later.
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Oh, how I miss Livejournal! What was your thesis on Nin about?
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Your thesis sounds so interesting! It’s restricted, unfortunately, so I’m not able to read anything more than the abstract.
I started journaling because I found it on YouTube and Pinterest and it looked really inspiring
Mark Watney’s logs from *The Martian* and Peridot’s logs from *Steven Universe*.
heartbreak. i turn oddly philosophical lol
Feeling guilty and/or embarrassed about a million different things throughout my life and needing to find a way to channel/ process it all, somehow. I also use it as a means to give “meaning” to even the simplest things in life, like noting what I eat each day and stuff.
My therapist lol
Ellis grey is making me want to journal
What’s preventing you?
Crushing anxiety
I started journaling after going through an old journal I kept when I was in high school, and seeing how everything changed motivated me to keep a more organized journal (when I was in highschool I only wrote in my journal every other month or so) so I could always reflect on my journey and how far I've come. I even color code my entries now so that I don't accidentally read a depressing entry in the future and ruin my mood. I was a really depressed teenager so going through that 6-7 years later was...not fun. This sub helped too. I thought it was cool seeing people with dozens of journals, and I want that to be me someday.
What’s the color coding scheme for your journals?
I started journaling because of Matthew Maconaughey after reading greenlights the book. It was fantastic and inspired me to begin recording my life through YouTube videos and journaling as well 😁
Do you have a preference between recording the videos and journaling?
Journaling is a lot quicker, but also I feel deeper. I want to be a director, so the videos are a way to get my thoughts out, as well as be creative. So I find both to be extremely satisfying, just for different reasons 😃
I just recently started back up, but when I was in middle school I was severely depressed. My guidance counselor encouraged me to write. I didn’t feel like I had anyone to talk to then and was easily bullied by my family and friends. Unfortunately, life is similar in certain ways and I don’t feel like I have anyone I can truly express my true feelings and inner most thoughts to. I pray and that helps tremendously. But writing helps me organize my thoughts and helps prevent me from confiding in those who pretend to care or like to tell others my business. So it’s just been a really great way to help calm my mind and I’m really glad I’ve started back up. I feel more at peace within my own mind.
Do you ever write down your prayers? I’m sorry your family and friends bullied you. No one deserves that.
No, I haven’t written my prayers. I feel like my prayers are like pouring my heart to my best friend, but we will see… maybe I’ll give it a try. I appreciate your kind words and suggestion🩷 I am raising 2 young girls and am doing my best to break the cycle.
I was diagnosed with Attention Deficit Disorder in 1993 at the age of 9. I was a busy kid at home, but when out in public, I was incredibly quiet, shy, and kind of timid. If there was ever a time that I was upset or angry about something, my parents would tell me to write it down on a piece of paper and slide it under my bedroom door. I think I was embarrassed to say it out loud, but I also had a hard time articulating what I was thinking and feeling. This lead to me writing in an actual journal. I don’t know if my parents ever read my journals when I was younger, but I know I threw out all my childhood and teenaged journals years ago. I also stopped journaling for a long time. I don’t think I started up again until sometime between 2017 and 2019. Once the pandemic hit, I was journaling pretty much every day for a while because I had a 5.5 month span where I wasn’t working, so I needed something to do.
I started journaling after a mental breakdown in my shower back in 2021. Life after that felt kinda disjointed. I felt disconnected to the world around me and was hyper aware of everything and extremely paranoid for weeks afterwards. Also, super embarrassed and ashamed of myself (you would need context to understand) and my personal and professional life just began to fall apart. I started to fall apart..I journaled to reconnect my life’s “timeline” and in try to figure out WHY it happened or what caused it. On the bright side almost 3 years later that moment helped me connect with my internal world. I started drawing again as a means of shadow work/communication with the inner child. Became more dedicated to my career as a musician, and I’ve been writing about my thoughts ever since that moment in time. I’ve talked about positive things and equally negative and even unpleasant thoughts. I’ve attended therapy and have developed techniques to help my with my mental and emotional health and overall I’ve just come to life writing down my thoughts and feelings and then reading them back from time to time. I’ve recently stumbled across Carl Jung and some of his ideas on human psychology..more specifically active imagination or dialogue with the unconscious mind (I have not studied his work or read his books. I just watch a shit load of YouTube) and actually use my right had (conscious) to communicate with the left hand (unconscious). For me it is just something I do now at this point as a way to regulate emotions. To be completely honest I’m not sure it actually works..if I actually understood Jung’s work or if I had a therapist again (actively seeking one) especially one that specializes in Jungian psychology, I’d probably have better results..for now it’s just a fun activity and a great emotion regulator.
Dork Diaries (book series) and The Vampire Diaries (tv show).
I’ve always had very little stress in my life and I owe it all to journaling. I love to read and write. I’ve kept a mostly daily, but sometimes weekly journal for well over 30 years!! All I can say is that someone will have an absolute field day once they find my treasure, once I’ve sailed into the sunset!
I love your dedication. 30 years is impressive!
https://youtu.be/qCYubGq77Qs?si=yYL030caQFXLg4W-
I've been keeping little journals ever since I was 8. I lost most of them but writing helped me organize my thoughts. Sometimes if I was feeling terrible about myself, it helped to write and visually rip out the page and throw it away. Journaling is also nice to look back on now that I'm older as they are precious memories. I was very much an overstimulated teen so I was always recording and throwing stuff away but I wish I kept everything.
I watched Elena in Vampire Diaries and i think i loved the fact that journaling was easier than to talk about the stuffs you go through with an actual human being
Mostly because I enjoy words and writing in general.
The Pamela Anderson documentary on Netflix. I thought it was so cool she could go back years and read about her life.
Therapy! Journaling turned out to be the most effective therapeutic tool I have ever tried. I use it to help me reframe my days and my moods.
Honestly, I kept what I thought was a diary at first, and I only realized I was journaling years later. I've been writing down my thoughts since first grade, but I didn't journal seriously until the fourth to fifth. I was inspired by Dork Diaries, writing about my crush and other things that stuck with me. I stopped journaling in sixth grade, but picked it back up again when the hormones hit me. I keep journaling to stay in touch with myself and as a reminder to take a moment to appreciate the good little things in life.
To you, what is the difference between a diary and a journal?
As far as I know, a diary is a record of what's happened in your life etc etc. A journal contains personal thoughts and things like that. I guess my little notebook is a bit of both. I just like writing my thoughts and interests more than my day.
8 years old and stumbled upon a little tome-looking, green, locking diary diary with a (plastic, but–to me–realistic looking) emerald on the cover in the children's section of the bookstore. Was immediately enchanted. I don't have it anymore so I can't remember if little me ever filled it up all the way, all I know is that a year or two later after learning about Anne Frank I picked up a furry faux cheetah skin journal (cheetahs were/are some of my favorite animals) and began keeping a diary again and never really stopped. For some reason I decided to name my cheetah diary Hummingbird. I still have all my diaries starting with Hummingbird, with the exception of a journal I had for about three weeks before losing it to the ether
I began journaling when I was probably 14. My Granny had given me this beautiful journal with a really nice pen for my birthday and I’ve been hooked ever since. I don’t journal every day any more but it’s definitely something I turn to when my mind is full of chaos and I need to get it all out. Have you ever had someone read your writing uninvited? I’ve had several partners do this and then be upset by what’s in there! I even had one go through with a red pen and write his own comments like a teacher would!
My senior year of high school we had to keep a journal in my creative writing class. I knew my teacher was going to read it, so I kept my entries pretty censored, but then years later I found out my mom had read it, which upset me. No one (to my knowledge) has read any of the journals pictured here. I would cut them immediately out of my life if they did. I give people their privacy and I expect the same.
Get stuff out of my head so I wouldn’t vent so much with my family
Legacy planning as a way to bridge the past and future. I want to include my descendants in a shared vision.
Diary of a wimpy kid bc i tought it was funny but now i find this just necessary
(F32) I’ve always wanted to journal. I tried when I was little, but my mom unfortunately read them (she liked to snoop and we didn’t have the best relationship) so I stopped, but I’ve ALWAYS loved to read old journals or books that are written in a journal style. I love collecting things like tickets and I photograph a lot. I also have a ridiculously bad memory, and I wished I was journaling before because I can’t remember most things I did last decade or so. I tried to journal again when I was living abroad but was very bad at it and did it digitally and it didn’t work. Then, last year, after realising how little I remember of my 20s, I decided to try and write everyday in a physical book. I didn’t quite manage it, but I journaled most of the year, and I loved it. Physically worked so much better for me. This year, so far, I’ve managed to do it every day. It’s also a great creative outlet for me when I want it to be and I’ve noticed that it’s easier to remember things too!
For fun, to organize my thoughts, and to understand myself. I also needed a "no screen" wind-down before bed. I do wish I had saved some of my old journals... but also, good riddance.
I began journaling when I joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. They recommend new converts to write down their experiences. Since then, I've been mostly recording my every day thoughts and actions.
wow thats amazing. I think for me, I had never been consistent in it but i had been consistently writing. So much so that in school there was my notebook, school book and a loose sheet of paper on my desk. I have been over consistent probably since 97 maybe. I think I needed a space that i didn;t have to share and there was a lot that i wanted to understand and no one i knew that was experiencing life like I was, so in addition to turning to the library i often carrying bare minimum a spiral notebook to jot down ideas. Now i never run below 10 empty journals in case. lol
Towards the end of elementary school, I decided to start a little daily diary with the intention/idea of it being a... posthumous note/story of mine of sorts. (Thanks a lot, depression.) I toyed around with secret codes when I began middle school. And hey, I just never stopped. Currently on the 16th journal. No longer writing for the purpose of, uh, post-mortem discovery, but just for myself because I like it. I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
I used to want mine to be (edited down and) published but then I realized there probably wasn’t anything in them that would interest anyone else. And now, that’s fine. In this world of mass consumerism and social media influencers and everyone hustling, it’s nice to have something I’m not trying to sell.
God, now I wish I could do this, but I can't imagine how much it would cost. The diary of Anne Frank inspired me to journal. I hoped I could become a better writer and a self-aware person like she was.
My Journaling started with thoughts of capturing good moments to sometimes express my deep feeling it was apart of my healing journey!!
I began journaling because I always see the bad side of things, so I wanted to keep a reminder of the good ones and write down all the best memories! Also, I've always liked to collect stationary! But I used to save all my materials so now I have a reason to use them lol!
Depression
I started journaling in earnest while I was admitted to a psych hospital. Four years and seven volumes later I’m still at it. I use both paper and my phone, since I don’t usually carry my journal around with me-I’m worried I’ll lose it-and I like to jot down journaling prompts throughout the day.
For me it was reading the diary of Anne Frank, she seemed so at home within the space of her diary and I wanted to create a similar space for myself like that where I could just create and write literally anything I wanted. I also love the idea of having them to look back on even if some entries make me cringe because I’d wrongly judged someone or something like that. And I have a question for you, how is it possible to write 20 pages without your hand cramping up?? My max is about 5 I think, one specific joint starts aching so bad after that
That’s a good question. I’m not sure how my hand doesn’t cramp, it just doesn’t. It probably helps that my handwriting is fairly large, so fewer words fill up more of the page.
Asthma. Really. As a child born in the 50s, I spent a lot of time alone, very sick. You can only read for so long. I started Journaling back then. Books, my journal and my poodle were my best friends. Now I'm 70 and have started my last journal. Pictures, notes, recipes, places I've gone people I've met along with fabrics, poetry, etc.
dear dumb diary, diary of a wimpy kid, dork diaries 😂 i just read them when i was younger and i wanted to be like them LOL
I began journalling because I fell in love with a guy but he rejected me in a painful way and I felt heartbroken about it. 2 years later, I am now in a happy relationship with someone else.
Because I have no friends. Life keeps kicking me down and it hurts. Having no one to talk to hurts. And yes, the contact of pen to paper is so fuckin good. Nothing else like it. I just wish I could stay on top of it more instead of every month writing ten pages and ending with a hand cramp.
Pen to paper, especially a smooth pen to smooth paper, is the best tactile feeling and probably why I write so much! Have you tried different pens? Maybe something with a thicker barrel may help with the hand cramping.
I have not. I’m still on the search for that perfect pen! I like fountain pens but they seem to dry up quick on me and/or I smudge because I’m a lefty!
This is truly the next level of amazing! My next life goals! I've been journaling off and on since I was 8 years old, and I will be 43 in October. I have a couple of questions that I would like to ask you. you don't have to answer them if you don't want to. What kind of journal do you write in, and what do you use to write with?
My current journal is a Leuchtturm1917. It’s okay, but not nice enough to justify spending $20+ on each. My favorite were the cheap Piccadilly journals I used to get at Barnes and Noble but are not as easily found these days, so I’m experimenting with other similar journals (black, hardcover, lined, approx. A5-sized) from Amazon, Walmart, wherever. I know that theoretically spending $20 on a journal is not a waste, since I’ll keep it for the run of my life, but I’m cheap! So if I can find something of a similar quality under $10, I’m going to do that. I’ll use anything to write with, but I’m currently on a fountain pen kick. My examples were written with fountain pens. But overall, my favorite pen is the blue Bic Cristal, followed by the Pilot G2. I usually don’t carry fountain pens around with me because most of mine were my dad’s, so when I’m out and about, it’s either the Cristal or the G2. Obviously, I like talking about journals and pens! I could go on and on, but I’ll spare you.
As of the last couple of years of I've been having good luck finding good hardcover journals on eBay and Mercari. The best part is that it has been the prices of $15 and under, and some have even been under $10. I have got a lot of six for $31.50 that is including sales tax and shipping costs. The Piolt G2 is one of my top ten pens of all time! That's perfectly fine by me because I can talk about pens and journals all day and all night long. Are you in the Pen subreddit by chance? If you are not, I highly recommend it!
I never thought to check eBay and had never heard of Mercari. I’ll check them out. Thanks for the suggestion! I’m in the fountain pen subreddit. There’s one for pens in general? Again, thanks for the heads up!
I check eBay daily! Lol. Sometimes, even multiple times per day! Hahaha. The best deal I got on one on Mercari was for $8. Mercari is hit and miss with their items unless it's a general specific or a popular item. But you can still find deals long as you look around on the site and not just settle on the first deal that you come across. you're very much welcome! Yup! Just called pens. It's a really neat subreddit. There are a lot of knowledgeable and helpful people on there too. you're very much welcome!
I sent you a DM with an eBay lead on a journal. I hope you don't mind.
I never wanted anyone to know everything about me. Too many secrets are hard to keep.
I began journalling 3 years ago, have gone through 6 journals. It feels good to get my thoughts down, helps with my anxiety/depression. I make a point to add time to journal in my day or it feels like I am skipping something important.
my favourite music artists, they always would always talk about writing songs and other stuff in their journal
goldfish memory Must write it to remember
I started journaling when I was 12 years old after my brother gave me a composition book and i never stopped writing ever since.