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I’ve been journaling everyday for three years now. My journal is by far the largest document I’ve written. At over 230,000 words it’s many times the length of my PhD thesis (the second longest document I’ve written).
My journal started as a very simple gratitude journal. Every day, I would write down a few of the things I was grateful for during the past day. It was a quick process that forced me to reflect on the moments that meant the most to me each day. Here’s an entry from my first week of journling:
2019-07-07
- Good chat with Will
- Spending some time out in the lovely sun
- Finishing a section of thesis
- Periphery - Select Difficulty [An album I really like]I quickly started to see themes in what I wrote. Almost everyday, one of the highlights was going for a walk with some of my coworkers at lunch time. I worked with a fantastic group of people at the time and spending half an hour or so with them was always fun. However, I would always feel guilty about spending so long during my workday walking and chatting. It seemed like I should have spent that time being more productive and working. Writing in my journal made me realise that I value the time with my coworkers and changed my perspective from feeling guilty about it, to enjoying it as much as possible. Being mindful of the things in my day that bring me happiness encouraged me to seek those things out. It made me more likely to start a conversation with someone or try something new.
After a while, I realised that what I was writing wasn’t enough. I’d read entries like the one above and ask myself, “What did Will and I talk about? Where was enjoying the sun? Which section of my thesis did I finish?”. I realised I needed to be more descriptive. So I started to include more detail. I also started to include things that I wasn’t so grateful for. My journal quickly got a lot more interesting and a lot longer. My entries went from averaging 30-50 words per day, to 150-300 a day. However, the downside of writing more is that journaling can feel like an obligation or a chore. It became a bigger thing than I want it to be. I’m currently experimenting with how I go about writing, but haven’t yet found the perfect method for me. I’ll keep trying though, because the benefits far outweigh the obligation.
Going back and reading what I wrote in the past is such a great experience. Seeing what made me happy, what made me sad and what ideas did I had, feels like time travel. It makes it really clear how much I’ve changed over those years. It’s always amazing to me how many cool things I do, weather it’s a little project I worked on, or some big adventure somewhere or just some music I really enjoyed. When you see all the things that make you happy in one place, you can’t help but be grateful for all the awesome things that happen.
I encourage anyone who hasn’t tried journaling to give it a try. Don’t think you have to write an essay every day. Just take a little time to reflect on the day that has passed and what you enjoyed most about it.
