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Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?
Long ago –okay, for me, it was long ago!- it was common for a young person to keep a diary, a place to write down the heartaches and giggles of growing up, the trials and tribulations of school, friendships, sports and activities. Sometimes it was a locked book, so that we felt secure knowing our secret thought remained a secret.
How times have changed! While I no longer keep a classic diary, it is no less important for me to write down thoughts, ideas, and heaven-knows-what, on a regular basis. Nowadays, the common name is a “journal”, and seems to appeal to every segment of society. There are an abundance of ways to do this, and so many reasons why. Although I prefer longhand, many people use a computer, and there are any number of prompts/styles/methods.
Let’s explore this together!
Do you journal? What prompted you to start? What would you tell someone who wants to start?
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Hello to all,
Living in the world today is a day
to day experience in the journey.
‘trudging the road to happy destiny’….all of my few AA friends seem to have fallen off the earth…one in particular…so ☹️ sad…the morning fears upon awakening are still there…however, there are some wonderful shining stars ✨ that paid us a visit…my colon biopsies came back as microscopic colitis…👍
the bluish black ominous lesion on the back of my head came back as an Apocrine hydrocystomas..benign…that one had me going…we had a nice getaway on ‘vision of the seas’ from Baltimore to Bermuda…5 day cruise that we were able to walk around and check out part of the wonderful island…as we approach Election Day, my thoughts 💭 remind me of that wonderful Neil
Diamond song, ‘say friend, have you seen Glory Road’…. I wish all here a happy safe week…🙏pvctom
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3 ReactionsHello to all
The holidays are near and I hope everyone is enjoying a peaceful post election week…my wife and I are still fortunate to be mobile and independent…as I sit here listening to a conservative talk show host do his shtick I wonder if there is a positive difference that can be made … or will this bickering between parties go on…I am doing my walk at the mall today and since our trip, we have settled down into our routines..my morning uneasiness still greets me upon waking and so I get going to do something..2 more of my favorite shops have closed at the local mall and I surely miss the wonderful Sears Christmas displays of the past .. the candle 🕯️ shop is still there and I love that little shop.. it’s a happy place full of lights, homemade candles and it reminds me of the line “ the butcher , the baker 🧑🍳 the candlestick 🕯️maker”…. I am finding it hard to find something interesting to contribute… for the moment, I am just grateful for the present and I hope that the following weeks will take good care of everyone…🙏pvctom
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3 ReactionsThanks for the positive reactions 🙏
@pvctom2021 Your trip to Bermuda sounds like it was good for you. The daily steps we take seem the same somedays, but we have those nuances that make it just a bit different. We often "lose" friends, while at the same time we make new ones or solidify old friends. It can be hard to deal with, and journaling is a way to address those uncomfortable feelings. Have you written a letter to that friend, in your journal, and asked any questions that come up, talked about your feelings?
Seeing the holiday windows in stores can bring back memories, or trigger anxiety, for many people. Writing about it may help us go through the day-to-day feelings, and find out just where we are in our hearts. For me, writing and then sometimes reading back later, it is a comfort to read the words that "bring me off the ledge" of anxiety/anger.
Ginger
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6 Reactions@gingerw
Thank you for your reply..you have written so eloquently about journaling and how it can be and has been therapeutic for you and how it could be for myself.. I sometimes do written journal entries like here or on my iPhone but vocal notations on my ‘voice memos’ app…mostly…I can hear myself, and realize that ‘friends’ that I’ve met in certain groups or fellowships or churches are really acquaintances that are just passing through that time span —-until something happens to change that … like they move or lose contact, or pass on…and the older you get, the tougher it seems to be to regather new friendships or acquaintances…and the other thing I must realize is that they have ‘family’….and more family, children, grandchildren and old old friends that they still know … long before I happened along…but sometimes just communicating like I am here with my Mayo family…everyone here has been very helpful to me in sharing their wisdom and their hope and experiences…It’s a funny thing…that just yesterday ‘of the blue’, came a text from a fellow that we had not heard from since last year…I replied back to him and he was delighted.. my reply back was lengthy and warm and full of reassurance that his ‘new hunt’ for a condo around the Va. or Md. areas were going to be positive for him…as for some of my AA ‘friends’, well there is no real connection there… I wish it were otherwise but I’m the odd man out and probably one of the older AA members with continuous sobriety which frankly I don’t think about at all other than when I join a Zoom meeting….sometimes it is good, sometimes not so good..I’m going on here… my
thanks to you and others here on Mayo Connect for your support and encouragement and may I
say ‘God Bless’ and have a wonderful week ahead 🙏pvctom
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2 Reactions@gingerw
I forgot to add that I appreciate and like your ending sentiment ’that it is a comfort to read back the words that ‘bring me off the ledge’ of anxiety/anger…🙏
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1 Reaction@pvctom2021 Twice this week, I heard a comment from the same person, that made me really think. "I am always happy for a person who wants to better themselves, and moves on, but when that means I lose them out of my life, I am not happy. I hate to lose people in my life." It really made me think, as she and I were commiserating about someone dear to us who is making a huge geographic move in the near future. So, it prompted a journal entry about that, from me. We move on, or others move on. And it made me think about the geographic move I made 5.5 years ago, leaving behind close friends.
Being the odd man out can be a good thing. It can demonstrate to others that yes, this can be accomplished, anything is possible!
Ginger
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5 Reactions@gingerw
Thanks for this nice comment… you have been very helpful to me as have other members here at Mayo Connect…you’re right, anything is possible …. and the people who have ‘dropped off’ were called back to heaven or in retrospect not really friends at all, just people I did things with over a period of time..nevertheless, it still has a psychological effect on me… because if you’re in a room with people (in my case playing music 🎶 with others) and you think you’ve got some rapport with these people, then suddenly they’re gone, and the whole thing has ended, you have to wonder what happened? That’s why I am still trudging the Zoom AA meetings..it is something or somewhere to be a part of although it is there that I can’t help but feeling like ‘the odd man out’…if you don’t work the steps with a sponsor, the thinking is ‘that person is just dry’…that may sound like paranoid but like the saying goes ‘perfect paranoia is perfect awareness’….Bless you and all who come here and hope you and all have a good week…🙏pvctom
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