Starting or Using a Journal

N

n4^_xd

Newbie
MBTI
INFP/INFJ
Enneagram
Type 4
Do you keep one, why did you start it, and what has it helped you with thus far?

I do not have one and i was thinking about starting one, to help my creative side as well as to put my problems on paper so that I can see them and then solve them.
 
I don't have one. I started many when I was younger though, and stopped writing in them as soon as I skipped a day or lost the pen I started writing with.
 
Yes - for a little over twelve years. I started it to detail my everyday experiences because, for whatever reason, I find it enjoyable to look back and get a snapshots of a typical day during a particular era. You know - what I ate, what time my college classes were, the names of friends, etc. It's boring to write about but pretty interesting ten years later.

Anyway, that goal died quickly as my journaling turned into therapy. All my insecurities, introspecting, fears, doubts and narcissistic fantasies were dumped into it. I'd go into the most agonizing detail about why I didn't like myself and how I had to clean my carpet after I'd puked all over it in a self medication session of whiskey and cheese sticks. It's great to look back at it now and re-read some of those entries despite *facepalming* my way through it. It allows me to see how far I've come as a person and still find some wisdom in the writings.

With over 1,000 entries, I can put in search terms and find entries that have those words in them:

- vomit
- love
- (ex-girlfriend's name)
- insanity
- father

...etc, etc. and read them. It's cool to have my life archived and searchable like that.
 
It's really great for me to get out
my negativity instead of allowing
it to eat me alive.
 
It's a useful tool. You ever get those times where your head is "spinning" right before you go to sleep. And your stuck with a whole bunch of circular thoughts that keep going round and round? Whenever this starts to happen, even if I don't feel that stressed, I take out a notebook and write without thinking. Then I rip out the page and eat it. Then go to sleep.
 
donkeybals said:
It's a useful tool. You ever get those times where your head is "spinning" right before you go to sleep. And your stuck with a whole bunch of circular thoughts that keep going round and round? Whenever this starts to happen, even if I don't feel that stressed, I take out a notebook and write without thinking. Then I rip out the page and eat it. Then go to sleep.
Click to expand...

LOL, you had me all engaged and everything. Well played.
 
I started journaling in middle school. I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't started one. Like Korg and Bird have stated it's great for detailing what is going on in your life and also a good place to unleash all the negative energy within you.

I read through my eighth grade and ninth grade journals a while ago. It's interesting to see how much I have matured over the years ,how much new wisdom that I have gained from experiences.
 
I highly recommend you get a journal with unlined paper. I know, what a silly little thing, but seriously, it opens up so many possibilities. You can write big or small, sideways, upside down, and even have your words wrap around little pictures you make.

Before I started my journal I felt as though I had all these puzzle pieces, yet no flat surface where I could sort them all out and connect them into something. My journal has become that surface.
 
Used to, on and off all through late elementary school, middle school, and the first two years of high school. I wish I hadn't thrown it all away in a fit of agonizing embarrassment. Now, looking back, it would be heartening to see how far I've come.

Carboxyl said:
I highly recommend you get a journal with unlined paper. I know, what a silly little thing, but seriously, it opens up so many possibilities. You can write big or small, sideways, upside down, and even have your words wrap around little pictures you make.
Click to expand...

I like this, a lot. The last few years journals made me feel so constrained so that it was stifling every time I tried to write in one. But with the endless possibilities of unlined paper...well, who knows. :)
 
Journaling actually has been shown to relieve depression, anxiety, and reduce stress. I am getting a degree in psychology ... some courses in personality had case studies I had to review. So, from a scientific standpoint, journaling is worthwhile.

I journal off and on. I am too inconsistent I think. Generally, it is a typed entry but occasionally I do pen/paper, but I am frustrated by my inability to write fast enough through that medium.
 
Yeah I do write in journals. I have had several, on and off. Some earlier ones I have thrown away as I'm always paranoid that people will read them and anyway I find those entries immature and silly. My current journal is focused on abstract thoughts which I pen down to get a clearer idea of how I'm feeling.
 
Recently I found what I think is my oldest journal, from the time I was 8. I'm 26 now, so that would be 18 years of constant journalling. Now I have a box full of old journals, and what I like about them is that they keep me grounded, I know who I was, what my dreams were, why I did things the way I did. And like Korg, I do a lot of facepalming while going through them, it's sometimes sad to read about some of major hurts in my life, but it's humbling also. Sometimes it's hilarious.

I'll probably burn them at some point, partly because I don't want them to get into wrong hands, and partly because I feel there will be time when I'll want to burn some bridges to my former self.
 
Carboxyl said:
I highly recommend you get a journal with unlined paper. I know, what a silly little thing, but seriously, it opens up so many possibilities. You can write big or small, sideways, upside down, and even have your words wrap around little pictures you make.

Before I started my journal I felt as though I had all these puzzle pieces, yet no flat surface where I could sort them all out and connect them into something. My journal has become that surface.
Click to expand...

Great post. That sounds like very good advice and I think I will take it up!


mauve said:
Yeah I do write in journals. I have had several, on and off. Some earlier ones I have thrown away as I'm always paranoid that people will read them and anyway I find those entries immature and silly. My current journal is focused on abstract thoughts which I pen down to get a clearer idea of how I'm feeling.
Click to expand...

I guess finding those "immature" and "silly" entries show that you have matured and gotten wiser? Interesting.
 
starshine said:
Journaling actually has been shown to relieve depression, anxiety, and reduce stress. I am getting a degree in psychology ... some courses in personality had case studies I had to review. So, from a scientific standpoint, journaling is worthwhile.
Click to expand...

It does help - but you have to be careful not to marinate in negative feelings (young INFx's are especially prone to this) and a journal can provide the perfect conditions for it. Before you know it, you wind up chronicling your life as a tortured fuckup who can't get off the downward spiral. It's like a feedback loop:

feel bad > write about bad feelings > strengthen bad feelings which creates a bad life > feel bad > write about bad feelings...

...etc.
 
SouloftheLaurel said:
I started journaling in middle school. I wouldn't have survived if I hadn't started one. Like Korg and Bird have stated it's great for detailing what is going on in your life and also a good place to unleash all the negative energy within you.

I read through my eighth grade and ninth grade journals a while ago. It's interesting to see how much I have matured over the years ,how much new wisdom that I have gained from experiences.
Click to expand...
This. (also SOTL, don't you laugh a little about the things you'd panicked or despaired over that time? :P)

Also, it's not only negative energy. Either way, it's a place where you can write about your growth --and read about it if the need ever comes--
It does help - but you have to be careful not to marinate in negative feelings (young INFx's are especially prone to this) and a journal can provide the perfect conditions for it. Before you know it, you wind up chronicling your life as a tortured fuckup who can't get off the downward spiral. It's like a feedback loop:

feel bad > write about bad feelings > strengthen bad feelings which creates a bad life > feel bad > write about bad feelings...

...etc.
Click to expand...
+1. And don't even start to the point when you believed what you're thinking...... and acting non-productively on it (Read; WANGST)
Depending on your way of living and your view of life, journals can become the road to salvation or the road to hell. I've done both. :|
 
Trifoilum said:
Depending on your way of living and your view of life, journals can become the road to salvation or the road to hell. I've done both. :|
Click to expand...

Not to call you out but can you explain how you wrote so as to make journaling the road to salvation.
 
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