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by rcarr
1132 days ago
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Yes and no. For the first three months of the year I was religiously journaling. Pretty much every single day, with weekly and monthly reviews. Then towards the end of the quarter when it became apparent that I wasn’t going to get my project finished on time and that I was miserable I completely burnt out and stopped journaling and haven’t gone back to it yet. Journaling felt like work and it also felt like it was making my mental head space worse - it was constant, hyper focused reinforcement of negative energy and would just remind me of everything I was failing at or failing to do. I was succeeding at many things at the same time and writing those down but the journal was something of a relentless OODA loop for self improvement which meant I was constantly dissatisfied because my life was fixated on achieving the next goal rather than trying to enjoy the process. It didn’t help that the main problem I was working on was a frustrating nightmare. I do want to start journaling again because it can lead to insights but I might have to experiment with it to find something healthier but I’m not sure what that would look like. All that being said I’m not sure my biggest insights come from journaling so who knows if it is that valuable. They probably come when I respond to questions like this on the internet or interact with people. Thinking about it, in a way maybe it has helped. After burning out I kind of came to the realisation that I really am sick of being where I am and doing what I am doing which has lead to me selling up everything I own in order to go travelling. So maybe the journaling served its purpose of hammering home to me how dissatisfied I was with life and how I needed to make a radical change. The insight didn’t come whilst I was journaling but the journaling indirectly lead me to the insight. Maybe I’ll take it up again when I finally get out of the country in a few months. |
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First of all - good luck, I hope traveling will help you clear your head and find that change you are looking for. It worked in my case. Also, you reminded me of two other things journaling can help with - as you point out, it can lead to insight. Trying to formulate your thoughts clearly in writing can be very potent. And journaling can also work as a storage of good feelings - for example, I walked multiple paths of Camino de Santiago [1], each of them was a few weeks of great times... and I was journaling them. Every now and then, when I feel down after especially long and dark winter, I re-read those journals and they make me feel good. Áh, nostalgia strikes... I am gonna read them right now.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camino_de_Santiago