r/Journaling

I enjoyed journaling when I was younger and trying new things, having new experiences, etc. I have noticed however that a lot of times in my journals as an adult it’s kinda gloomy like about fears, concerns, disappointments, etc and it almost amplified how I felt.

Any advice? I’d love to journal and keep it up beat, but I’m concerned it’ll just turn into rant sessions and me getting down.

Closest thing I’ve done to journaling in recent years is typing out journal entries and I haven’t even done that in a couple years now.

I know there are a lot of different types of Journals: Commonplace books, Junk journals, Dream journals, etc.

My question is: what kind of them is mine? 😭

I basically have a notebook where I dump everything in, can be information, OC descriptions or lore, science facts, arts, doodles, phrases and I want to know the clear name so I can look for more similar inspo and related stuff

If anyone could help me I would love to know ❤️

In a slump right now, so I was wondering if anyone can relate. Personally I loved journaling since childhood and still have all my journals from back then, but recently there is this "blank page fear" kinda thing that keeps me from starting again

For instagram and twitter esp, they're my go-to for sharing about what i felt over certain things almost instantly or what i've done. just achieved a pb on my run? gotta upload it. got a compliment at work today? uploading it on my 'close friend' story function.

and while i told myself i posted all these for me to look back on in the future, in reality i was tying my life events and emotions to external validation--people viewing or liking my stories, messaging me, etc. it felt like i was chasing the dopamine from being acknowledged i "have a good life".

recently, i realised i became addicted to this dopamine hit and my screentime was embarrassingly high. i've reached a point where i felt like i needed to share everything i did on my hobby account, which lowkey ruined the "doing it for myself" vibes i wanted, so i finally deleted instagram, then deactivated twitter and tiktok. reddit is all i have now.

it was hard adjusting at first. when you're so used to sharing and posting daily, it was weird not knowing where to "express" your thoughts at the moment.

so i finally picked up journalling again and the transition has been AMAZING.

i thought at the beginning journalling meant reflecting on your day before your bedtime, but i no longer confine myself to such "rules" which made journalling even more enjoyable. Whenever something good just happened, i started writing it down (when 2 months ago, i would've posted it straight on social media). if i watched a cool youtube video, i'd express my views about it on there. or if a sudden thought just pop up? i'll write! bc most likely, when i write one thing, it is more likely i'll have other thoughts showing up as well.

and i love it. i now feel like i live for myself, i no longer have an "audience" to impress for at the back of my mind and my life has become much more private--there is something liberating about people not having this much access to your life anymore, at least people who don't even care about you.

a year ago, i stopped journalling as i thought it would take "too much time" when in reality i've always had time--i just saw social media as my "journal" instead! And it’s not an “authentic“ one too, just a highly curated choice of photos and words bc i knew people were looking

i wonder if anyone here feels the same?

ps// this is not to say that if u use social media you're morally inferior lol absolutely not. i'm just rambling about how journalling has helped me better in being in tune with myself instead of being on social media.

When you start your entry do you say something like "dear diary", "hello" or smth like that? When I was a teen I treated my diary like it's some like "new person" I'm introducing to my life so I was always writing "to my book". When time passed I started to journal for my future self so I always say hi and stuff like "take care, love you". How about you? 🥰

I’ve always loved the idea of journalling and I would say I have partially been doing it on and off over my lifetime in some way.

The last couple of years I have been so appreciative of seeing other people’s journalling styles and how beautiful they are and as silly as this is to admit - I have to say that it’s created a weird feeling of anxiety about just picking a pen up and writing, due to my thoughts of having the write the correct things and it look a certain way.

I know that I should not succumb to that and the real task is just that I should start, but for some reason I’m very nervous about ‘messing it up’ or doing it wrong.

I guess I’m just wondering if anyone had any tips or anecdotes for similar experiences like that - maybe so I don’t feel so silly for thinking like this ahaha

Hi! As mentioned in title I enjoy journaling much more on loose paper of any size usually about B2 than doing it on a full binded notebook and I really wanted some suggestions on how to keep track of it. I want it in a chronological neat of keeping them together and not loosing it.