Journals, do they help?

Hey Jake!

It's a great idea, especially because I've noticed you have a talent for writing and you already have more self-awareness than most people your age!

 

It's different for everyone. It's possible at the moment that you don't know what you'll do with the writing, which is perfectly alright — as long as you want to write, there's no reason you shouldn't. I certainly didn't know what the end result would be when I had started writing into a journal of mine. Ultimately, it was a phase and a tool of sorts that helped me get through a period of life. Ultimately, I ended up throwing all of them away. But I do think it had its purpose... it was very cathartic, and it allowed me to talk to someone when I felt that I had no one else to listen to me at the moment.

 

It can help to write your thoughts down instead of bottling them up. Sometimes I prefer to say them out, but I do use a journal.
There aren't really any set rules for starting a journal, just write anything that comes to mind. It's your journal after all.

 

I love writing about what's going on in my life.

Sometimes when my life feels particularly rocky, I buy myself a new journal and go to town. I fill mine with quotes I find, lists of things I'm thinking about, stories about what happens to me and just general stuff that crosses my mind and my path as I do my thing and live my life.

If you're thinking about journaling, that's awesome! It really does help just to get stuff out or keep things for posterity. My only advice is not to pressure yourself into journaling the way you think you 'should' do it. Just write whatever you want, whenever you want and that way it will really reflect you and your life.

 

I have a blog that no one reads, but I prefer my most intimate thoughts to be on my journal only. I have found it helpful in the sense that I could enumerate my helpful and destructive habits, appraise my relationships with people, it allows me to identify the thought patterns that were allowing my depression to flourish.

I also use it as a tool for recording positive memories, and anytime I'm feeling dejected reliving the sweet memories helps. In my experience journaling is a fundamental component of healing. It allows me to reflect on my growth.

 

I hate writing, but wanted to journal so I keep mine on the desktop on my laptop. I like it because it gives me a chance to vent, and it really helps me figure out what's going on. It's a great way to get your thoughts together, especially when something big is going on.

plus, zero judgment from a journal...

 

I have had diaries/journals since I was little & I have used them to track stuff and write poems

I have also used them with therapists (which I don't have one in my new city yet)

I like them they help me say things I can''t out loud, my only time I ever had a problem was when one partner used one against me

and speaking of blogs I had one that did use to get hits (not a lot but some - I have shut it down now)

 

I have more than 7000 pages in my journals.. and that, only since 1986-7. It's therapy, writing practice, notes for poems, a writen photo album of my life. If you aren't into it--find something else, but if you are... keeping a journal is wonderful.

 

Certianly cant hurt! I would like to do something like this myself if I had anything worth writing about

 

Journals are great. My therapist recommended that I start one again, but I still haven't. I need to though. It's a great way to compile your thoughts and talk things out with yourself.

 

I can say that while I don't regularly keep a journal, it helps when I have something that I need to get out.
The first time I used something like a journal and got some real help from it was back when we had to put my dog down. He was 16, and I was 18. After that I sat at my computer (an Apple IIe back then), and wrote several pages of my thoughts, just to get them out. It made me feel so much better, even though I still miss that dog more than 25 years later. After typing my feelings, and getting it out into the computer. I just turned the computer off without saving it.

Now days anytime I need to just get something out like that I type it into a folder on my evernote account, and use that account as my journal. I havent entered anything in quite some time though.

 

I love my journal! It really helps to articulate feelings of set-apartness, as well as those brutal crushes on straight friends.

 

I used to keep one in junior high and high school. Still have it too, although reading it hurts because past me was stupid! :lol: I read it now and I'm just thinking "What the hell was I thinking?!" But it was very helpful back then. You should do it! It helped me a lot, and I think it will help you.

 

I suggest that, if you have the urge to, then do it. Writing helps some people, but it will never do any harm. Keeping a journal can help, and even if it doesn't mentally help that much, it will at least help you practice writing.

 

I take my current journal (most are marble composition books -- they're cheap. Fit in my shoulder bag--have filled 64 of them) almost everywhere I go. I write when riding the El or bus, while waiting in the doctor's office, at cafes and bars. If I see something that interests me or something comes to mind, I can take it out and make notes.
I used them when I was communting every day to work and back--same train, same times of day--the kind of routines that lull you into thinking there's nothing new to see or notice--when in reality, everything is new every minute of every day--if you only wake up to see and hear and feel it. I would make a point on those commutes of finding something new, something I'd never noticed before and writing about it.

---------- Post added 20th Nov 2013 at 11:57 AM ----------

I find that the entries most revealing for state of mind, mood, how I was feeling, aren't the ones where I'm writing about myself and my feelings, but where I'm most engaged in describing what's happening around me, impressions of other people. Navel gazing (and romantic enfatuations!) get old fast, and nothing is more boring to read later.

 

My journal is the stand-up I've amassed over the last couple years.

 

I sometimes write journal entries, but I'm not great with handwriting so I usually just type them on a word document

 

It has been really helpful for me. Once everything is on the page, I don't have to worry about it.