This is a question I’ve been asking myself recently. I’ve kept a diary on and off since I was eleven and feel that my life is more productive when I keep one. In recent years my writing has been more off than on, however, over the last few weeks I’ve had the urge to start writing again, but I don’t know why.
Of course, one of the main benefits of keeping a journal is the record of your life, which could become historically important (think The Diary of Samuel Pepys). However, there are also meant to be many other benefits of keeping a personal journal:
- helps goal setting and measuring progress
- simply your life
- strengthen your relationships
- empower you
- aids reflection
- reduces stress
- helps focus
- helps to practice writing skills
- creates personal space
- helps to develop self expression
- helps with problem solving
Why did I start writing a journal?
I started my first journal in 1989 because of the book The Diary of a Teenage Health Freak* because I wanted to have a diary published too. My entries were just writing about the day and thoughts on future events. I didn’t think any more deeply about journal writing until Amazon recommended a journal writing book in 1998. This opened up a whole new world to me that I had to know more about.
Why did I stop writing a journal?
Basically, I think I got overloaded with information and I forgot what a journal is actually for. There are so many different techniques that can be incorporated in to writing a journal and I think I was trying to use all of them so it got too complicated and stressful.
Should I keep a personal journal?
Since I’ve started writing again I’ve gone back to just writing a quick summary of the day or my thoughts as I go to bed, but I have many questions that I still want to resolve:
- how do I get maximum benefit from writing a journal?
- should I write in the mornings, when I get in from work or when I go to bed?
- should I free write or use exercises?
- is it better to select exercises as random or follow a routine?
- should I read my previous entries?
- how do I learn about myself from my previous diaries?
- how do I look for patterns from my diaries?
Plus, what is the best way to preserve my journals? In the past I have started typing my entries in to LifeJournal software* hoping to use it as a backup tool as well as a search tool. However I don’t think I put the effort into using it properly, perhaps I was put off by the number of entries to enter.
I think a journal is important to my life so I am keep to research this topic further, especially because I have noticed that when I keep a journal my life tends to be in a ‘good’ or productive phase (although I don’t know which comes first the writing or productivity). The simple thing I want to discover is why should I keep a personal journal? Once I know this I think the answers to the above questions will be easier to find.
There are a large number of books on journalling you can find if you do an Amazon* search and I already have a good selection that I will use to start my research:
- The right to write
- Writing for self discovery
- A book of one’s own
- Journal to the self
- A year in the life
- Leaving a trace
- Harvesting your journals
- The journal wheel guide book
- The new diary
- Wild minds
Plus I have more on my wish list
- Learning journals
- Life’s companion
- Awaken the writer within
- The decorated page
- The decorated journal
- Simple days
- Soul catcher
- Journalution
What is your experience of journal writing? Do you think I should continue writing? What techniques would you recommend? Have you read any of these books?
What you can learn from the England rugby team?
Very interesting subject. I am also in a start/stop relationship with my journal. I realise that I journal when I am lonely and have no one to talk to. This usually happens when I was single. I manage to keep a journal for a year but after I met my husband I stopped.
Good Luck in trying to start up again. I am so inspired to start up again.
Feli,
It is interesting isn’t it? What is it about a journal that means you keeping going back to it?
I think one of the key reasons for me stopping last time was confusion, and I think this would disappear if I knew why I wanted to keep one as it would dictate the style of entries e.g. overview of day or thoughts
However I’m not sure how I start to identify why I want to keep a journal.
This is a great post. I actually stopped formally journaling, because I realized I was writing for the sake of writing, for the sake of filling space.. so now, I only write when I have something worthwhile to say, or I get inspired by a new idea.
It’s a great reminder tho. Or perhaps I’ve just moved my journaling in a notebook to journaling in a blog. 🙂
Love & Gratitude,
Tina
Think Simple. Be Decisive.
Productivity, Motivation & Happiness
Dear Tina,
Thank you so much! I always thought I had to write in my diary everyday, which just piles on more stress. Now, I can enjoy my Thanksgiving without ANY stress! Again, thank you so much!
Anna, I’m glad you found this post and comments useful. I used to feel the pressure of writing every day and feel guilty if I missed a day, but I realised the alternative was not to write. So now I write when I want to and I know I’m doing better than not writing at all.
I have a few of those books on my shelf, but have yet to read them. 😉 I go in fits 7 spurts with my Journaling. I’ll go on a roll of daily entries for a month, or three, then I will suddenly stop for a few months at a time (sometimes years.) Journaling is very muse-activated for me. I do not ever force myself to Journal, the few times I have tried that the results have ranged from useless to horrible. But, when I am in a journaling phase I always get a lot out of it. I also frequently take some time to flip through my old journals and read random entries. Helps to touch back on old points of my internal landscape that I was working on, and that can launch me into a phase of revisiting them.
Hello Tina,
Thank you for the comment. When I first kept a diary I thought you had to write every day and I remember feeling stressed because I missed some days; I actually tried to catch up by writing those days after the event!
I agree that a blog can be a replacement for a journal, but I write in a completely different style here and perhaps, not surprisingly, about different topics.
Travis,
Despite not having read all the books I’ve already got on the subject I am still wanting to buy more and I’m currently not looking on amazon or abe to see how cheaply I can buy them for.
I have never looked back on random entries, the only times I’ve looked back on previous entries is when I’ve been typing them up in lifejournal or looking back on an entry a few days previous. I’m not sure if it is because I don’t know what to do with previous entries or because I’m worried about what I’ll read about myself.
One of the concepts that the Dalai Lama teaches is that personal development, change and growth does not happen overnight. It takes time to see how one is developing, and if that development is going along the path one has chosen. He says that rather than looking back at who we are one month ago, we should look back at least four years to check in, and see how we are doing. That is part of why I look back at old entries. However, that is not everyone’s motivation for journaling, so the idea may not apply.
Natalie Goldberg, whose primary reason for journaling (as far as I can see) is to grow the craft of prose and poetry writing, recommends reading a journal straight through when you have filled it up and moved onto another after a “cooling off” period of a month, or so. I’ve never been able to sit down and do that, but as a would-be professional fiction writer I see the practices value.
Travis,
I am still mulling over if and how I will read my previous journals. I like the idea of leaving a gap of four years before reading them because I think I would be able to read them more objectively. If I started from my first diary there would be a gap of almost 20 years!
As a would be professional fiction writer are you participating in NaNoWriMo? This is my second year and unfortunately I am already behind but I’m sure I will catch up over the weekend.
I am indeed doing the NaNoWriMo bad crazyness this year. It’s my third year, and I am learning that every year is very different. Par for the course I get behind during the week then catch up on the weekends.
Fortunately I have a couple of days leave so I am hoping by the time I go back to work on Wednesday I will be back on track, if not a head. If you want to add me as a buddy I’m writer 147286
Woot! I am writer 75076. I don’t check those forums all that much, but having buddies is good. Feel free to add me. 😉 I’ve added you. Cheers!
“The Artist’s Way” is awesome. I first read it about 10-11 yrs ago, and I have been writing pretty regular journal entries ever since. I was journaling before that, but only sporadically (mostly when I was down).
I am thinking of starting a Book of Days in Jan. I think it would be cool to see my progress on a daily basis. And NaNoWriMo is in my calendar for next year!! good luck!!
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Stephen,
I never got very far with The Artists Way, but I am keen to give it another go.
I am curious to know whether you look back over your entries and whether you find it useful to help with either your productivity or your blog.
Nanowrimo is not easy, but there is a real sense of achievement at the end of it. I would really recommend participating next year.
I have always liked the idea of journaling but I don’t want anyone to read my writings – and the few times that I have kept a journal, I have found people reading my entries. My mother did it when I was in High School and my boyfriend, now husband did it when we were first going out — he had no idea that my journal was meant to be personal and was mortified when I flew into a rage and then fell to the floor in sobbing tears.
I actually wonder if I am capable of journaling considering how “afraid” I am that someone will read my personal thoughts.
I guess some of the planning journals, newspaper clipping journals, etc. would be better for me — but still, I would love to write by hand in a book and let out all of my feelings, frustrations and insecurities and also my joys, without feeling like I have to have a vault to keep it in.
Excellent article, by the way – I’m so glad I found it.
Kristin
Hello Kristin,
Thank you for your comment. I am sorry you have had such disappointing experiences with your journal writing. I’m not sure what I would do if I knew someone had read mine. I am lucky that my husband has said he is not interested in reading mine.
The obvious solution to your fear is to keep an electronic journal that you can password protect, but that does not help you satisfy the desire to write by hand. Can you keep your journal somewhere else? Could you lock it away? Can you speak to your husband, perhaps he has now learnt not to read it? Could you suggest he starts a journal at the same time; perhaps if he is writing one he would understand they are personal.
Good luck and I hope you find a solution.
Wow, i love that picture of your diaries, and i thought i had a bit of a collection! You put mine to shame lol but then again you’re 9 years older than me…
I don’t see the harm in keeping a journal/diary. it seems to me that i sort things out more clearly and precisely when i write it down, and how i feel. i also feel that i have a lot of “stuff” inside me that doesn’t need to be there (not all bad though!) to swirl around. so writing it down gets rid of it. It also gives you the oppertunity to read through what you thought more than once (as when you think it a lot of people can’t recall it exactly) and you can decide if it still makes sense or whether what you were thinking was a bit off.
Good luck to you, a diary is a good thing to have. it never talks back or judges you, it lets you be as rude or obsessive as you want and will just take it. it will take your happiness and tears like nothing else. and you don’t NEED to keep one all the time. when you feel like it, do it.
Thats all 🙂
I’ve been writing a journal on and off for two years. I finished my first book, which my mum found and read the beginning of…I was so angry I ripped the whole journal apart. In case anyone else has an intention of reading my new one (including her), I always keep it with me. In my opinion,because someone might be able to read your journal really shouldn’t stop you since you can always take measures to prevent it, so don’t take that as an excuse!
Finally, writing a personal journal can be a long-haul project, depending how passionate and determined you are about it… I suppose the only that keeps me going is the fact that I enjoy it and I can make sense of my emotions!
Catherine,
I’m glad that your experience of someone reading your journal has not stopped you writing. I think I have thrown away a lot of journals in the past, but I think it was because I was not good at writing them when I was very young rather than someone disrespecting my privacy. I have been very lucky that no one has ever read my diaries (at least as far as I know anyway).
Lissy,
Yes I have a books, but I have to admit that some of them are more empty and written and the one on the very right is waiting to be my next journal.
I agree with your thoughts on journal writing. It is very on and off activity for me, but I always know it is waiting for me when I ready to return to the page. However I am not very good at reading back over my previous entries, but I am working on this by adding extracts to my blog. The entries I am currently adding are from my I was 11 so are a mixture of amusing and embarrassing!
I started a journal after putting much thought into it. It’s not like I have all the time in world, or anyone, in that sense. But as I moved along, I discovered that it helped me put things in perspective. Simply, to understand myself better. And that’s a worthy outcome I guess. And now I do it in a daily basis. And my belief got reinforced after reading your article.
Cheers.
Nadz,
Thank you for your comment. Its good to hear that you find writing a journal beneficial. I have picked up my journal again recently to ensure I capture the details of being a mother; I’m sure in the future I will be glad I spent the time to do it.
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I’m not sure I can answer your questions as I’ve never really kept a journal except for short angst ridden teenage periods. The closest I’ve come is probably my blog and taking part in Project 52 (which is publishing 1 photo a week – linked to 365 – photo a day) I tend to do somewhere in the middle (make up my own rules) but I do publish a post a week about what we’ve been up to – based around the photos taken that week and it is quite nice to look back on posts from the first year now. I’m not sure I’d ever write a proper journal – don’t have time and life too dull!
I started doing P52 last year through a scrapbooking forum. My rules were 1 page a week with no more than 1 picture a day (some days I missed and some days I ended up doing 2) so it sounds similar to your blogging approach. I haven’t finished all my pages yet, but when I do I will have them printed in a book and I’m really looking forward to that day. I’m doing the same this year, but so far haven’t done any of the layouts; I’m sure I’ll catch up…
I think for me a recorded would work much better. I do walk a lot and most my ideas are born when out with the dogs… I started talking to myself and recording it… it is fun…
I read about this in the past and didn’t understand the benefits until I started have a longer commute and noticing how I often have interesting thoughts while driving. What do you do with the recordings?
I put on paper what is important… and then record over the rest… otherwise I will just forget what I wanted to write or some brilliant idea I had
I used to write a personal diary when I was a teenager, but it all makes me cringe now. I couldn’t see myself writing a diary now, but I suppose my blog kind of serves as a diary, albeit a very public one!
Yes, I’m not sure about rereading the entries of myself as a teenager, but then at least I’d recognise how far I’ve developed and maybe they will help me understand my daughter when she gets to that age. I did a comparison of my diary and blog a few years ago, interesting to see the differences.
I have written diaries and journals, I have some but others have been destroyed which I now regret. I tend to write a journal when my life is taking a turn, a change or if I feel I need somewhere to offload. I am thinking about starting a journal again now myself. With regards to style and technique, I just write, let the words flow, and leave it at that. I’d be interested to see what these books say, I never knew there were books on journal writing!
Emily, interesting to hear you regret destroying some of your journals, I think I’ve decided I’m not ready to do that with mine. In the past I’ve noticed I tended to stop writing when I’m going through a major life changes – I wonder how much easier they would have been if I was writing. I used to use a blank notebook and just write, but now I use A6 page a day diary and I suspect it has changed the style (it would be interesting to review them and find out).
It was a revelation to my to discover there are books on journal writing as well. I think it is an American thing. I’ve got several but haven’t read them in years. Maybe I should find them as I’m not sure where they were unpacked to.
my journal is my 365 photo project that i run on my blog. sometimes theres no need for words as the photo completely covers it and the sense of the day comes flooding back the moment i see the photo.
I started doing P365 last year and I’m creating scrap pages for each week, I plan to have a book printed when I’ve finished all the layouts. I love the concept and wish I’d started years ago.
I don’t write a journal but I do love to write every day. I have never read anything about journal writing – I think you should write for you. One thing I have seen on other blogs is to pick a word of the week. It might be an interesting thing to do as you will be able to quickly look back across the year and see a concise summary of your feelings and you mood from the single words you chose.
I keep saying I’m going to write every day, but apart from my journal I don’t keep it up. I used to do morning pages, but now I like to stay asleep until the last minute 😉 I’ve heard of people keeping a word or sentence for each day, but I haven’t thought about doing it for a week, I’m going to look into that and see what I think – thank you
I don’t keep a journal at all but I would imagine for many people writing a blog is very similar?
Yes, I think for many people blogs are like diaries, however I don’t tend to write about as personal issues as I do in my diary which I think is why I keep writing both.
i’m definitely one of those people that has a start/stop thing with having a journal, but i find now that my blog has kind of become my journal, though i’m not overly personal on it, i do still get some thoughts out of my head!
I’m not very personal on my blog either, but my husband says there is something in me that means I need to write whether it is my journal, blog or task list; it is definitely about clearing my head.
Journals we have all started them and abandoned them in our lives at some stage.
I’m not sure whether this is good or bad. Is it good that so many people write a journal at some point or is it sad that so many are abandoned.
I have never really kept a journal until I started blogging, now I think my blog is my journal!
I think a lot of bloggers feel that, but I intend to continue with both because I write very different things online and in private