Journaling - The Write Stuff For You?

@pvctom2021 Tom, it is really great that you have found a way to get your thoughts out. It is a good reminder that there are different ways to journal/express ourselves.

I am curious. Do you have a way to save the recordings? Do you want to? What changes have you heard in your voice or choice of words since you started doing this?
Ginger

@gingerw Ginger, hello and thanks for your reply..yes there is a way to save voice recordings on the iPhone.. discovered quite by accident that this device serves in addition to everything else as a tape recorder..the mic is very sensitive and can tape just about anything, anywhere..the recordings stay indefinitely on the voice memos application on your device or can be saved in the iCloud…I have not noticed a change in my voice but I feel like I’m doing a positive thing by making my morning anxiety a matter of record…I am coming to the conclusion that my biggest fear 😧 worry is all about being left behind…that is just, it’s just an awful feeling.. and thanks for putting me onto this one of so many threads.. journaled this morning about the fear and guilt I feel and of course with these feelings came the Cortisol and the extra skips..but I am much better now…journal audio recordings are good, like you mentioned, because I do hear my own voice saying how I am feeling…I hope you and all that come here, have a good day..🙏 pvctom

I love journals/diaries--reading published ones and usually have one going. Sometimes I keep a 1-line a day journal, or a gratitude one, or a travel log. During the pandemic I kept one for a women's history archive. But here is my question--I've tried, and failed to keep a textile diary. Like knitting a few rows of some interesting material, or embroidering every day. Somehow I just can't get it to work. Any suggestions? I'd like to capture the flavor of each day in something other than words.

@mir123 Cut pictures out from a newspaper or magazine that might express your feelings or thoughts on a given day. Draw something [pen/marker/ paint/colored pencil]. Press a flower onto the page, tape down a knit or crochet swatch, or a square of embroidery. Glue down a tea bag envelope that has meaning to you. A fortune cookie message.

Do any of these trigger an "a-ha" idea to you?
Ginger

All of it! I appreciate how you've thought about this. I'll sometimes collage a program, a menu, a ticket stub...so this is a good reminder. But my fave of your suggestions is that square/swatch/flower...why do I always think I have to make a giant wall hanging called 2023 (and then fail to do so!). The flowers are a great add-on...I hear people do this but have never tried, although I grow flowers, pick them on my walks, and buy them to arrange. For example, although it has been snowing here some parsley is still alive--a bit of it pressed could make today's entry (or a tiny poem). Thank you!

Started journal in my se ior year of high school in an English class. I'm 72 now. I journal everyday. My pain, my PTSD ,anxiety, and depression goes in my journal. I write prayers and gratitude also. To start just get a cheap spiral note b ook a d write you thoughts. Don't worry about spelling, Grammer. Just write your thoughts and feelings, short stories, whatever comes to mind. I hand write most of the time. Sometimes I'm so full of pain and emotions all I can write is WTF! I color my pain or my joy or my brokenness. Journaling saves me. I've tossed totes of journals o er the years. Let your journal be your friend. Blessings.

I guess the first person to tell (convince) if and when I start to journal (again) would be myself. I hear this over and over and over again; Journal, Journal, Journal. "It's good for you, it helps," etc. I've tried it, but when I go back and read what I was going through in the months/years before, I loose it, it makes me more depressed to re-read how I felt in the past. For me, journaling has been a bad experience... just feels like digging up bones and reliving the past pains, rather than letting it go and moving on. I'm stuck on the fence about this.

I am 67 years old. I started journaling when I was ten years old. I used my journals to complete my grad thesis at age 62. It is cathartic for me.

@dougkeon There is nothing demanding us to reread what we have written/taped once we have committed it to a medium. For me, just getting it out of my head has been tonic enough. A few times I have gone back and reread things, from several years ago. I am looking at the handwriting, and the hidden emotions there, beyond just the words. I have even taken graphology courses to learn about handwriting, to better understand what is going on "below the surface".

I am curious if you would try an experiment to simply journal and not go back to read what you have written. How would that make you feel? Is it worth a try?
Ginger

I did an audio journal for this morning’s anxiety upon awakening..this episode was very intense but subsided once I started moving around.. hope all here have a safe and peaceful new year and I hope all is well 🙏
pvctom