What I’ve Learned from Two Decades of Keeping a Journal

I had tried many times to keep a diary as a kid but always gave up after one or two entries. But during my freshman year of college, I finally tried a journal on my computer and that has now continued for 21 years. I joke that it is “Doogie Howser” style but he was very succinct and I ramble incessantly. I’ve never forced myself to write and in the beginning I only wrote a few times a month but for the last ten years or so, I’ve been writing almost every day. It really helps me decompress before I go to bed and capture all the things I want to remember about my day.

I think keeping a journal has had a very significant impact on increasing my happiness level. Maybe after you read this post, you’ll be inspired to keep one. It’s never too late to start!

Gratitude: The term ‘gratitude journal’ was not trendy when I started this back in 1999. So I didn’t explicitly set out to have gratitude journal. But I noticed that when I was in a good mood, I wanted to capture it, to savor the moment. And there is something about writing it down that really helps saturate in the positive vibes. Human nature is to dwell on the negative, due to the way our brains have evolved to be on the lookout for threats. We tend to let the positive things bounce off. After all these years of writing about all the good things in my day, I really think it has rewired my brain. Even during some really difficult stretches, I would vent for awhile but eventually start to reflect on all the things I could be grateful for.

Insights about my mental patterns: There is a statistic about how 95% of our thoughts are repetitions from the past. Reading back, it is kind of hilarious how many times I had a new “idea” or epiphany in my journal and then realized I had already written about it a year or several years earlier (oops). I also read back and see my mental patterns and tendencies. I am quite neurotic, and I would often try to solve problems that might arise in the future. A lot of mental energy went into trying to solve problems that sometimes didn’t even end up happening. It’s like the Mark Twain quote: “I have been through some terrible things in my life, some of which actually happened.”  It is pretty powerful to see how much I agonized about something that never even happened, so I am more likely to notice and catch myself when I am doing it again now.

Perspective: There are things I wrote about in my journal for pages and pages that were incredibly upsetting at the time, and now I have no recollection whatsoever about this thing. This is very helpful perspective when I am struggling with something in the present and recognize that I might not even remember this in ten years.

Connecting with my Future Self: My journal is basically like a long stream-of-consciousness email to my future self. I feel like that has helped me connect with the future me and has motivated me to do whatever I can to set her up well, such as being naturally frugal and inclined to save as much money as possible. This also makes it a lot easier to start new habits or drop bad habits, because I feel like I’m doing it for my future self.

Accountability: It is interesting to read old journal entries and see what goals I had for myself ten or twenty years ago. Several years ago I started doing weekly resolutions instead of New Years resolutions. I would have some themes for the year, usually revolving around healthy habits or learning something new, and then I set a small concrete goal every Sunday in my journal. And then the next Sunday I have to revisit it and see how I did. One example from back in the day was doing two minutes of meditation every day, and now I’m up to at least twenty minutes a day.

Inner Strength and Compassion: My journal has been my go-to outlet whenever I am going through a difficult time. It is wonderful to have friends and family for support, but it’s liberating to know I can always find my way back to happiness just through processing my feelings in my journal. I’ve also noticed that I have become kinder to myself over the years. I used to berate myself for being upset but my journal has helped me develop more self-compassion. It has helped me build more compassion for others because if I am frustrated with someone else, I reflect on the other person’s perspective. It is fascinating to read back and hear my own voice from 20 years ago. In some ways I feel like I am exactly the same person, and in other ways I feel like I have come so far.

It’s funny, I started my journal because I was in a bad mood and wanted to procrastinate instead of do homework. I did not expect to keep it up. 21 years later, it is possibly the best gift I could have ever given myself. I think many people prefer a handwritten journal but for me a journal on the computer is the way to go – it’s more secure and the keyword search functionality has been exceptionally useful. 🙂

Do you keep a journal? Give it a try, even just a few sentences a night. Let me know if you have questions or comments!