Learn how to show up and stick to a certain consistent quantity of writing every day (3 pages is a good place to start). IMO, dgaf about quality, subject matter, sense - and especially just allow yourself to just ride the wave of it (i.e. if it gets emotional, if it gets mundane, just stick with it until your allotted pages are up for the day). Also - get frustrated. make a mess, scream at your journal, throw it off a roof. It’s a book and you are its owner. But also caress it, hold it gently, cry into it - in short, do what you want to do with it and use it as an opportunity to learn about yourself today and create who you want to be tomorrow.

I explain my morning writing process to people and they say it sounds like word vomit. If writing a “big project” is like weaving a tapestry, learning how to excavate and extract your most base thoughts on anything and everything is like spinning cotton fibers.

IMO, when you don’t let yourself actually write like this it becomes a trick pony performance project of leaving a carefully constructed record of who you think you are. I thought I’d be writing creative fiction by now. I actually end up writing a lot of essays on morality. Would not have found that part of me if I had forced myself into writing only on certain things - or god forbid, only wrote when I felt like it.

I’ve been writing like this for about 3 years now. Anywhere from 3-20 pages a day. I still “wish” I was doing more “creative writing” but it’s amazing to have a real opinion on anything. And to have an appreciation for the finer points of writing, prosody > “concision” 🤮

The thought of anyone getting their hands on my personal thoughts that I’d want to keep secret is terrifying lol

I got back into regular journaling in the second half of last year. Before that I used to be on and off with it and it never developed into a solid habit. However, now I write personally and publically (on SN) pretty much every day, and it has become more of a routine for me to write.

I think what has helped me stay consistent with journaling and writing at large, is to establish a clear reason in why I want to make it a habit. Before I would just write in a journal just because, or because I heard that it could be beneficial but I didn't know exactly why. The reason I started journaling this time around was because I had this itch that I wanted to leave behind some sort of legacy. Through my journals of life in which I write down anything from the most mundane to some more in depth reflection and analysis of life, I aim to pass down my acquired knowledge and experiences to whomever wants to entertain themselves with my writing and record of living. It could end up that I just read them on my own death bed and have a nice chuckle before I die, or it could end up in the hands of my great great grandchild or whoever and help to inspire them or teach them something, I don't know.

In addition, I've noticed both on a subjective and quantifiable level (through my wearable device, the Whoop), that journaling and writing down my thoughts immediately and substantially lowers my overall stress level. On the app for my wearable, it shows a real time chart of where my current stress is at, and after journaling for 5 minutes or so my stress level drops like how the chart of a crypto coin does right after a massive dump.

And by consistently writing on my personal journal for close to 6 months now, it has rekindled my love for writing and has given me the confidence to write publically on SN.

Therefore, journaling can be a simple way to achieve a little bit more fulfillment in life and at least for me it seems to be a great reliever of stress.

It was an old habit that I've lost. Lack of time was one of the factors. It's a time line that gets recorded, so don't forget to write down the bad times.

like me. I support you

The best thing about writing a diary is reading it, 5, 10, 20 years later and better understand how you became yourself.

I have been writing my journal for the past 11 years. I don't write daily but I try to keep records on important events like meeting people, moving houses, moving jobs, family functions, readings... I also try to write down the price of stuff for future generations and because some of it bother me.

PRO TIP: Dont be too negative. Your diary should not be a notebook to vent all your frustrations, but a record of your day-to-day life and most intimate thoughts.

I’ve written fairly consistently for about 15 years now. If doing it digitally, I recommend Obsidian. One reason being that the files are plain text so regardless of what app you use you’re not locked into some obscure format. Another reason is that the wiki-like format makes it easy to make summaries of each day, each month, and each year. So it’s really easy to go back and find when big events happened.

I’m in the process of copy/pasting old entries (obscure formats) and it’s been cool to see what I was thinking way back when. I went through some dramatic moments during my dating years and so it’s nice to see how much better life is now as a married dude.

The only negatives I can think of are: (1) how private are my thoughts if digital, and (2) do I ruminated about bad things if I’m writing about complaints and/or hopes for the future too much?

That being said, you can encrypt the folder with something like VeraCrypt and sometimes you have to force yourself to count your blessings instead of complain.

I keep diaries for different purposes but the most recent finding is to keep a diary for introspection, to self-exploration, self-realization. Yes, I do write things in my diaries mostly the vague thoughts and not personal or private things. So, if you wish to write about your thour thoughts without being too much material in them, Diary is a good friend.

Yes I have kept a digital daily diary for years. I highly recommend it. It can be as simple as a couple of lines about where I went or what I did did, through to extensive personal essays breaking down what I thought about something or my impressions. I keep it open format and mix prose-like writing with bullet points, or pasting in images or screenshots.

It is excellent to go back and be able to see moments or feelings and the evolution of ideas and thoughts. Without it I would somehow feel the days are just blending into each other!

I kept a small diary through about 4 years of traveling. I should probably look through it when I have the chance. I bet there's a lot of experiences I've forgotten.

I use vimwiki to journal throughout my day. It's basically a stream of thoughts, to put structure in my workday. It's kinda like a dumbed-down version of Zettelkasten if you've heard of it. Or maybe you've heard of Obsidian. That one adds nice visuals to this idea of a second-brain on paper.

To answer your question, very useful. If only for yourself. Unless you're like a genius, not many people will be interested in reading your every little thought.

I have always written as a means of recording down experiences and feelings. If it weren’t for Stacker News, it would have been Facebook haha. There was a period of time in which Facebook had its Notes feature - you betcha I utilised it often then.

I think the benefit of writing really comes a few years down the road. Facebook Memories surfaces my writings every year, so it’s a great way to take a trip down memory lane. Sometimes I have forgotten the things that I wrote about, so I’m always grateful for having the discipline to pen down my memories in the first place. Haha.

Does writing in English bring out a different side of you from writing in Spanish?

More people should. If for nothing else, writing and thinking.

In Trading I keep a Daily Book where I write the operations that I carry out daily and I emphasize the failures although they will always occur if they can be significantly reduced, placing as much information as possible so that it allows me to study them and thus prevent them from happening again in most cases.

GitHub repo?.. I'll fork it :p

you write a diary, you don't think about writing a diary.

Are writing just to get attention?

I would, but then my wife would read it, and then we would get a divorce.