Journaling is, without a doubt, the most important thing I do for myself. It is the act of taking the internal mess of thoughts, emotions, and experie

ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ Herman's blog

submited by

Style Pass

2022-06-22 05:30:02

Journaling is, without a doubt, the most important thing I do for myself. It is the act of taking the internal mess of thoughts, emotions, and experiences, and structuring and codifying them. It makes the intangible, tangible. Understandable.

I wrote an article a few years ago documenting my foray into journaling. At the time I'd been doing it for just over 3 years. Today I'd like to revisit those thoughts and observations and add a few more, as well as lay out a structure for journaling that works very well for me (and could potentially work for you).

I'm not going to rehash the points that I made in the past article. They are still entirely valid and I recommend reading it before continuing.

Over the last few years, my approach to journaling has shifted from something I do for my mental health, to something that I just do. I find it helps me structure my thoughts, reflect on my experiences and emotions, and articulate myself better. It is also a robust log of my life (although I have rarely re-read what I have written).

This is a tangible effect of journaling that I only noticed a few years after starting. I regularly receive comments on my ability to remember things, whether it be the history of a certain place, or deep knowledge of an arbitrary field of study; and I can say with confidence that I have a good memory. This certainly wasn't always the case. I was a terrible student and would regularly get frustrated with my memory and my complete inability to retain information.