Journal keepers of Lemmy: Do you go back and re-read old entries? (sh.itjust.works)

submitted 9 months ago by captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

33 comments fedilink hide all child comments

It's one of those things I've never talked about with other people, the most I've really been exposed to journal keeping in pop culture is Doug Funny. People don't talk about their personal journals.

Ever since I was a teenager I've sometimes felt compelled to write about major events, and over the years this has become the habit of keeping a journal that I write in almost every day, and sometimes I go back and read old entries. "What was I doing this time last year?" I also sometimes keep notes or such intentionally for future reference.

So, if you keep a journal, do you go back and read it? Why?

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] utg@mander.xyz 1 points 9 months ago

Oh yes, definitely.

It wasn't always the case. I started Journaling as a means to recover my mental health. The initial entries were really dark and I don't read them often, perhaps less than once a year.

After I recovered, I started using it as a logbook for my own life. Initially I only just wrote events happening around me, or interesting world events, but soon I was writing my own desires to improve myself.

That's when it really kicked off for me. Till now about 2 years had passed since I started Journaling. I would write about something I wished to change about myself, like reducing soft drink consumption, quitting cigarettes, or just changing my behavior a certain way. Gradually I would write about how I could go about realizing it, eventually I would do it.

Reading back I can see that today I am totally different from me a year ago. It's really fascinating to me and it has helped me to stay way ahead of my mental health. I was able to recognize a relapse in my depression and address it accordingly.

this post was submitted on 25 Sep 2023

87 points (95.8% liked)

Asklemmy

42523 readers

824 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 5 years ago

MODERATORS

ada@lemmy.blahaj.zone

AdaShovelace@lemmy.ml