I used to spend a lot of time thinking about situations that bothered me, but I rarely stopped to understand why they affected me so much.

Recently, I started paying more attention to my thoughts and writing some of them down.

One thing I noticed was that I sometimes reacted to what I thought a situation meant, rather than what had actually happened.

For example, a delayed reply could make me assume something was wrong, even when I had no real evidence.

Writing things down helped me separate what happened from the story I created around it.

I'm still learning, but I've realized that sometimes understanding a thought is more useful than endlessly repeating it in my head.

For those who journal, has writing ever helped you discover a pattern in your thinking that you hadn't noticed before.

This took me 17 minutes to write. Not sure how people can write 3 pages every morning without it taking a huge chunk of their morning. I think I’ll continue this practice as an excuse to use up my stationery. I don’t normally like lined paper nor spiral notebooks so I figure this would be a good use of it.

I have this stack of filled journals from my HR days sitting on a shelf in our spare room. Maybe twelve of them spanning fifteen years. The thing is I never open them. Part of me worries about what I will find in there, cringey work rants and all. But I also wonder if I am missing something by not looking back. Last week I was stuck on a customer messaging problem for our ecommerce brand and had this vague feeling I had solved something similar before. Could not tell you where or when. Just a hunch that the answer was buried somewhere in those pages. Never did find it. Ended up figuring it out a different way. Does anyone actually use their old journals as a reference tool or is the value mostly in the writing itself? I keep thinking I should digitize the important stuff but that feels like a whole project I will never finish. Curious how others handle this. Do you revisit your old entries or does the past stay closed on the shelf?

Haven't written a diary entry in a while though because it feels like a chore, unfortunately. I was thinking of maybe pivoting to audio/typing up entries? There's something so satisfying about a pen gliding across paper, though. Unless you mess up. Then it is time for bad feels.

Got diagnosed with ADHD last year, suspected it a year before that thanks to a friend bringing up how he thought I was already diagnosed. It took two psych ward visits and a couple years of therapy but I made it through.

Now a firm believer that everyone should do therapy, even if they don't really have any problems going on. It helped me a lot with communication and such, and it's good to have someone who isn't your friend to vent to.

I hope that if you're struggling with something, you get the support you need.

Still some blank spots, but I like the thought of opening my journal and being reminded of ways to live my best life. ☀️

What are some quotes you live by?

October evenings are made for a warm drink and a blank page. Here are five prompts I'm coming back to this month: 1. Describe your perfect autumn day, start to finish. 2. Three small things that made you smile today. 3. A book character you'd have coffee with — and what you'd ask them. 4. What are you looking forward to right now? 5. Write a letter to future-you, one year from today. Which one would you pick first? Or do you have a favorite October prompt of your own?

Hello!
I’m going on an international trip for 40 days and I want to journal about it! Here’s my problem : I use a journal that has a lot of pages so I know this trip will definitely be within the timeframe of my current journal. However, I am extremely scared of losing my current journal (or damaging it significantly since this is a backpacking trip). I would be heartbroken if I lost everything I put in it so far.

So my current thoughts are either I have a separate journal for it (which I could still lose or damage there) and then I would have a big time gap in current journal / it would be weird for archiving. OR I take detailed notes on my phone everyday and then backlog it. I’m wondering what other people do when they travel, especially if it’s for long periods of time/ not in a place where it is easy to journal everyday. Thoughts, opinions and tips are appreciated thanks!!!!

TLDR : Going on a trip for 40 days, should I risk losing my journal, get a separate journal and have a discontinuity in my current one, or take daily notes and backlog it when I get back.

Journal: StickyRiceCo Chonky B6 (Tomoe River paper)

Pen: Lamy Vista (Fine Nib)

Ink: Diamine Oxblood

Started journaling a few weeks ago. Love the aesthetic part.

Entrada de ontem em tons de preto e branco e vermelho

13 Outubro 2026

Entrada de hoje em tons de rosa com rosas.

14 Outubro 2026

I’d love all your ideas for creative journaling/writing/memory keeping in a daily. I don’t think I want it to be an emotional dumping ground, maybe more like a becoming, being, critical thinking and writing, etc place.

I've been away for WEEKS and kinda miss writing! Also, finally an entry I can share. Lately it has been a lot of private stuffs someone else is dealing but today is just a nice autumn day here.

Featuring my little baby turtle.

Trying to do an entry or two a day now!

It's really helpful to clear my mind so far

I'm not sure why but this feels like it will be VERY therapeutic. I have my daily driver journal here, including the required gold pen I use with it. Most of the time its task/to-do lists, ideas, sometimes handwritten notes for anything like video games or job interviews....but every once in awhile I have to make an 'Angry Journal' entry. here is one of them.

EDIT: Oh maybe I should say what the stuff is on the front. Its a Top Flight journal I got from Walgreens I believe, and the weird eye thing is a sticker from a ROG laptop sticker pack, and then on the bottom is a 'metal heart' I made out of foil and super glued to it...it looks cooler than it sounds haha. oh, and a burn mark from my dabber :-|

Well unfortunately I suddenly lost my dad two weeks ago and haven’t been able to pick up my journal to write in. I’m not sure if I’m scared to or what emotions might come about but I’m struggling to get back to it.

Any tips or suggestions how you guys got through journaling after a traumatic experience

Want to understand the process and how is it different from journaling.

Hello! Some of you may have seen my last post where I showed you my silly lil crash out over almost all my pens smudging the other day when I was trying I have a little journaling sesh..

And now I’ve done this to it.

Lots of paper cutting went on.. I don’t really know how I feel but I do think it’s better? (Lyrics are from “Emails I can’t send” by Sabrina Carpenter)

It’s certainly something, that’s for sure

Ummm
Yeah anyway let me know what you think of my chaos journaling 😆

(Also yes the right side page was thrown away lol)