Today, I stop journaling.

As of today, yeah, I'm not sure it's worth it. Let me explain...

I’ve been a journaler most of my life, even since I kept a diary as a kid. As a Buddhist and a Stoic (15+ years) journaling was a paramount activity. I have a lot of data to look at, and today, I just feel like it hasn’t done much for me in the long-haul.

Every once in a while, I go through this slump. I feel like it’s every year. I just don’t journal for a couple of months. It happens, it’s normal—like a break. Then I always get back into it. The last time has been over 6 months and all I’ve been doing is the Five Minute Journal. Even w/ the FMJ, I find I have mornings filled, evenings usually get skipped.

Today, I just put it away.
I think I’m done w/ journaling.

I’ve done lots of different flavors of journaling: long-form, short-form (Five Minute Journal), lists, daily affirmations, digital, grid, audio—you name it, I’ve done it. My thought was always that I would go looking back on them all and reflect—I’ve never done that. Most journals have been lost to time. The only time a journal was useful was when I wanted to figure out the day I became a Stoic (it was 1/15/2014 BTW). That’s it!

I’m also not sure all that journaling really helped. Having not journaled much for the last 6 or so months, I find sitting down and reflecting mentally (and audibly—I’ll get to that later…) is just as effective. I’m just saying, after all these years I can’t say that it helped make anything happen, or rather that I think that change would have happened w/out it anyways.

So what am I doing now? Well, it’s sort-of journaling still. As I mentioned, I still sit down and reflect as a part of my morning/evening routines. But I find doing it mentally can be challenging as your thoughts can get distracted pretty easily. There’s something about an audience that helps you really focus. So if you find me talking to myself out-loud in my backyard, I’m not crazy, I’m just doing what journaling did w/out the pen and paper. It’s faster. It’s more effective really, because I process more. It also leaves more time for learning in my morning/evening routines. BTW, that usually consists of journaling then listening to e.g. an audiobook or reading.

Now, sure… I’ll have a notebook nearby. Especially if it’s a complicated thing I’m processing. I still think writing down milestones in your thinking helps map your thoughts out. No it’s not a journal. No it’s not journaling. Why? Because I’m just going to throw this notebook out when it’s full. It’s usually bullet points or chicken scratch anyways.

Thinking out-loud w/ (or without) a whiteboard or a notepad is far more effective and efficient than journaling.

So, I think I’m finally going to put the journals away for good.