Journaling

elpgal

If any of you journal, can you share the logistics of how you do it? I used to at one point - a private/public one but in the years since, I don't trust online sites. I used to have a paper diary as a kid but stopped after I discovered that a family member had found it and read it.

9 years ago

Off Topic

9 replies

Latest reply was from elpgal

chewyspaghetti

Veteran

I have both an anonymous blog (which I will stop using when I get a new phone because I can't remember how to sign into it LOL), and I recently started a paper journal.Journaling is one of the techniques we learned about in my counseling class this semester, so I thought I'd try it. I just write whatever I want for 10 minutes before bed. Once a week I try to go through and re-read my entries.

9 years ago

Veteran

I bought an app called Day One and it works fine. I have it on my computer, you used a password, and you don't need the net to access it.

9 years ago

Gigi

Veteran

I do paper journaling. I bought a little journal at Target and use that. I wanted a paper one because it reminds me of what I used as a kid.

I live alone, so I don't have to worry about anyone finding it.

9 years ago

Anonymous

I journal. It is my sanity.

I used to use a paper journal. Now I have use Apple's Word program. I store the electronic journal in ICloud. I am happy with my system.

If you are concerned about privacy, you can password protect your journal.

9 years ago

Bennett

Veteran

I have the same concerns about my private thoughts being hacked, either on the computer or in a paper journal. Yet I've found it to be so freeing to get things out of my head, it's become a lifeline at times for me. I don't do it on a schedule, just when something is unrelentingly present in my thoughts.

What works well right now is to purge my thoughts in the middle of a notebook that is used for other, totally non-interesting things, like a work meetings notes binder or a recipes spiral notebook from the kitchen. I can spill out whatever needs to go, revisit if necessary, then shred when their usefulness has passed.

It is the way I find journaling useful, to help me gain perspective on things and move on.

9 years ago

cindysmith

Veteran

I kept a journal early in my sobriety. I didn't always write in it, because I was such a jerk that I was constantly being given writing assignments by my sponsor: make a gratitude list, and it can't include anything you can hold in your hand or physically touch; define the words denial, God, acceptance; write a letter to your ex saying all the things you really feel;

These days, I use my personal blog as a sort of journal/captain's log, but I occasionally have to censor myself because people are reading it that I might not want to know what I'm REALLY thinking. So I might have to go back to journals and writing assignments.

I'm having a friend make me a couple of books (1 for recipes, 1 for crochet/craft patterns) that are going to have places for scribbling notes. I think the places for notes will be an opportunity to put my happythoughts about mom next to some of the recipes I have from her (food and mom and memories are so tightly intertwined).

9 years ago

Echo

Veteran

I think it very much depends on what your are journaling for. I use a daily calendar that allows half a page of lined paper for each day. I am sure most people buy said books (mine is dated for the year and bound in leather) as dayrunners or planners, but I use mine to jot notes on the day's events, interesting things my children said or did, and rarely my own feelings about happenings. It wouldn't bother me if someone else read it, and I imagine it will matter to no one until I am dead and gone and perhaps my children will be entertained by hearing about themselves at young ages.

I will not journal online at all. Nothing is secure, IMO, and it really leaves no record if you die and no one else knows it is there.

9 years ago

Style Fan

Veteran

I journal with a pen and book. I have a few books for different reasons. I just randomly write in them. I need to physically write to get the most benefit.
I would not journal online because I don't trust the internet. Also I like physically writing.

9 years ago

elpgal

Veteran

Echo, I want to journal to work out the crazy *lol*. But I am extremely mistrustful of online sites and apps now. I like the idea of jotting down notes and discarding them.

9 years ago

Category