
I find journaling indispensable - jborichevskiy
https://jborichevskiy.com/posts/journaling/
======
taylortrusty
I've been journaling for several years and have developed a template I fill
out most mornings. After telling some friends about it, I put it in a public
format and shared as a Google Doc that anyone can check out. I have a very
long Google Doc with a more personal version of this template at the top of
it, and I copy and paste it to bump down the prior day's journal and start
filling it out.

Posting it here in case it's helpful for anyone who wants some structure
around the journaling:

[https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AW0xjWJKcxiqXkn72nYIe3pH...](https://docs.google.com/document/d/1AW0xjWJKcxiqXkn72nYIe3pHJzUOPPPRC1HH5kEuAKc/edit?usp=sharing)

~~~
mettamage
I also have a template. I use TiddlyWiki as I can then quite easily retrieve
the data that I'm storing in HTML. If this habit continues, I'll probably
create a home server and make sure I can journal online.

My template is more focused on being a daily questionnaire rather than a
journal, but it can do both. I've done 2 analyses so far, one qualitative
(about what made me most relaxed) and one quantitative (my energy levels
currently correlate for 0.66 with my happiness and my stress doesn't correlate
with either of them).

However, now that I've read this blog post, I think that I should create a
seperate place somewhere to write journal articles (probably just TiddlyWiki
as well).

My template: [https://imgur.com/a/mJ8nkio](https://imgur.com/a/mJ8nkio)

~~~
spiffytech
That's really cool! How did you create that in TiddlyWiki?

~~~
mettamage
Here are some code snippets.

I always tried to use fields, but for some things I used a scratchpad tiddler
called StoreDailyQuestionaireData. If I would use the same in those case, then
I'd get rendering issues.

    
    
      ! My happiness levels are
    
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="1"> abysmal low</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="2"> very low</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="3"> low</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="4"> medium</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="5"> high</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="6"> very high</$radio>
      <$radio field="q-happiness-levels" value="7"> extremely high</$radio>
    

\---

    
    
      ! I slept
    
      <p class="sleep-time-interval">Time Interval: <$view field=sleep-time-interval_value/> <$edit-text tiddler="StoreDailyQuestionnaireData" field="sleep-time-interval_value"/> <$button><$action-setfield $field=sleep-time-interval_value $value={{StoreDailyQuestionnaireData!!sleep-time-interval_value}} /><$action-setfield $tiddler="StoreDailyQuestionnaireData" $field="sleep-time-interval_value" $value="" /> change sleep-time-interval</$button> <span class="subtitle"> &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; (E.g. format: 23:49 - 03:57, 06:37 - 10:47)</span></p>
    

\---

    
    
      ! How many cups coffee did you drink?
    
      <$range field="coffee-amount" min="0" max="10" default="0" increment="1"/> <$transclude field="coffee-amount" />

------
freetonik
I’ve been journaling for about 5 years daily, and actually decided to stop
last year. For a long time I felt depressed, and my journal notes reflected
that.

Every day I sat to write down another entry, and when looking at a few
previous notes (or at “this day 1 year/2 years ago”, which is a feature of
many journaling apps), the bad days seemed “normal”, because, well, there
weren’t many good days. I believe this somehow helped me stay in a depressed
state, helped perpetuate the feeling of normality of something that should be
considered abnormal.

I am feeling better nowadays and consider getting back into journaling, but I
am wary of this unwanted normalization possibility. It’d be great to have some
sort of a basis to compare days to. Or maybe this is a bad idea.

Journaling is supposed to make you more self reflective, to increase meta
attention. It definitely does that, but it’s harder for some people.

~~~
shoes_for_thee
I 100% agree. I had kept a journal continuously for about 17 years. My
decision to stop was intentional and difficult. I loved my journal deeply, and
it's difficult to explain how it became an impediment for me and why I
believed it was a crutch. Living with a journal was, for me, similar to
watching a concert through the screen of your iPhone. My life is less examined
now, but it is better and I feel better.

I destroyed that journal entirely. I can never get it back, and I can not see
how I felt 8 years ago on this date, or 16 years ago on new years. It does not
matter how I was then. The continuity of it prevented me from feeling I could
break with the past.

~~~
freetonik
>I had kept a journal continuously for about 17 years. >I destroyed that
journal entirely.

Woah! That's one hell of a buddhist exercise. Reminds me of those monks that
spend days diligently painting complex pictures with colored sand [1] to later
destroy it completely.

I hope your break from the past was successful.

[1]
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand_mandala)

------
acidburnNSA
In the early 90s my dad was trying to explain word processing to a young me.
We had DOS on a 386 with Microsoft Works. He told me you could keep a journal.
I started writing in all caps about my family and pets and school.

I still have the file, and have continued writing in it just once every few
months. I love it. It's basically my life story.

Maybe I should write more. Glad to hear from this post that I'm not the only
one who likes it.

~~~
aurbano
I've been doing the same since I was 12, just one simple .txt file that I've
managed to keep alive since then!

I only write in there when I remember, which is usually 1-3 times a year,
usually after an important life event - so it's really fun reading back
through it...

------
tasogare
> A simple thing, on paper. Get a piece of it out and start writing. Or typing
> - doesn’t really matter.

On the contrary, I feel writing notes on paper with my fountain pen really
different from typing on a computer. Only the former give me the feeling of
work well done and some relaxed mind.

I find really interesting to see years later that event X and Y happened on
the same day while they are disjunct in memory.

~~~
criddell
The problem with pen and paper is that after decades of journalling, you are
going to have hundreds of notebooks to deal with. It feels like a burden and
the value of the text at that point is pretty low.

~~~
qzx_pierri
You’re right, but those notebooks don’t need backups, they can’t corrupt, and
they can’t be hacked into. They work during power outages, when the internet
goes down, etc.

~~~
criddell
A text file on a computer satisfies most of those constraints as well.

~~~
Aeolun
As far as I can see they meet only one of the described conditions? (E.g.
working when disconnected from the internet)

~~~
0xffff2
As far as I can see, the claims are so nonsensical as to be equally
(non)applicable to a notebook or a text file.

\- Neither _needs_ backups. In fact, a text file is much easier to back up if
you want to.

\- Neither is particularly likely to be corrupted these days, but a notebook
can just as easily grow moldy as a text file can be corrupted by a disk error.

\- A thief can just as well break into your house and steal your notebook as a
hacker can break into your computer and steal your text file.

\- A pretty large chunk of computing is done on devices with a battery these
days. Depending on the time of day, a notebook may not actually work well at
all during a power outage.

------
AlexanderZ
A few years ago I read an article about scientists planting false memories
into a mouse. [0]

This got me thinking that people were next. Then I thought: what if it already
had happened? What if I've already been planted false memories?

The only time frame in which I can be sure I am who I am is from the time I
regain consciousness (wake up) until I lose consciousness (fall asleep). I
liked this concept because it freed me from my past and future selves. I am
not them.

So, I created a journaling app that uses versions of you instead of dates.
This morning, it greeted me with "Good morning, Alexander №10821". I can
browse and see what other versions of Alexander (like №9851) were up to. I
also understand that tomorrow it's Alexander №10822 who will wake up and not
me, so I got to live this day however I like (though as I like the future
Alexanders, I'm gonna also contribute to their well-being).

I will make this app public, so if this type of thinking resonates with you,
leave your email in the google form I just created. [1] The app will have end-
to-end encryption and cost $3/month.

[0] - [https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/meet-two-
scientist...](https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/meet-two-scientists-
who-implanted-false-memory-mouse-180953045/)

[1] -
[https://forms.gle/PX8Aca6TR6cg5S9WA](https://forms.gle/PX8Aca6TR6cg5S9WA)

~~~
sweetheart
Reminds me a bit of Diaspora by Greg Egan. I recommend it to you! Post-
singularity “people” in the book start to develop interesting ways to
distinguish between themselves and past versions. Since they’re immortal and
infinitely copyable, their sense of self is naturally quite different from our
corporeal on one. You might be into it!

~~~
geden
Egan’s best book IMHO. Genuinely mind expanding ideas.

------
michaelangerman
I have been writing down what I do every day since 2002. So 17 years of daily
notes about what I did, how I feel, what I was excited about that day. One
cool thing about the journal is that it is electronic. So its searchable which
is kind of cool. Its always handy to look up stuff you did in the past and
when you did it, who you were with, when you went on that great vacation to
the beach etc... I highly recommend keeping a journal, for people who are into
it.

~~~
badrequest
What tools are you using to manage all the data/indexing it for search/etc?
I've gotten into journaling just this year, and have honestly been
contemplating building my own proprietary system for managing them because of
how crucial I feel it's become to my lifestyle, but I'd obviously love the
opportunity to use something that's already useful.

~~~
philips
I have been using pass[1]. Lots of git hosting providers out there and mobile
apps. I just have an alias that runs

    
    
      pass edit journal/$(date '+%Y-%m-%d')
    

And I run the alias when the mood hits me. Then

    
    
      pass git push origin
    

[1] [https://www.passwordstore.org/](https://www.passwordstore.org/)

~~~
sleavey
I was just thinking of how best to do journaling in an encrypted way and
figured pass might work, but then I realised it probably isn't easy to search
across notes. Have you found a way to do that that doesn't involve just
dumping everything to intermediate plaintext?

~~~
philips
It isn't fast but `pass grep SEARCHTERM` works great.

------
grumblepeet
I keep a similar thing in Org mode (yes today _I'm_ going to be the one
mentioning Org Mode). Every day I create an entry into my DayNotes org file
with the date in reverse order e.g. 2019-09-01 and with where I am and the
weather etc. I usually have three sections, a catch up of yesterday, what I'm
probably going to do today, and my actual day notes. This usually includes my
current theme, something Im focusing on for a certain period, this week it is
creativity.

I also keep a paper journal, which has longer term themes and thoughts and
planning. This usually ends up being a brain dump of all of the crap that goes
around and around, just like in the original article. I take things from here
and try to expand on them in the day notes. For the paper journal I use a
Cross fountain pen, like the one that Obama had, or often cheap Fountain
Pentel pens which Ive used for decades now. The fountain pen I fill with
archival quality ink, the stuff that registrars use.

~~~
eigenhombre
Thank you for being The One to bring up Org Mode. I've also been returning to
Org Mode after a year or so of bullet journaling in a Moleskine (yes, with a
fountain pen).

My procedure of late is:

\- keyboard shortcut + a snippet of Emacs Lisp to create today's journal entry
(e.g. 2019-09-01.org) in a "journal" subdirectory;

\- YASnippet to fill out a daily journal template with two-column LaTeX export
styling the way I want;

\- Write down any dreams I remember in the morning;

\- Write down a simple to-do list in an Org table, moving items up and down;
rather than TODO states, I put a space between items already done and those
remaining; if I don't get everything done, I can strikethrough the item to
indicate that;

\- Find and copy or type in a quote or a poem for the day (usually at the end
of the day);

\- Occasionally, paste in a small snippet of code that I wrote or saw that I
liked;

\- Any interesting things that happened or felt noteworthy that day.

Finally, and this is perhaps one of the more important steps:

\- export as LaTeX to PDF, then print, three-hole punch, and stick it in a
binder on my desk.

The format and what I put in changes daily and it's kind of neat to see that
unfold in the printouts. I find that having the printed journal makes the
older entries (each a single page so far) a pleasure to look over and gives me
a sense of what my time has been like recently. If it was just on the computer
I probably wouldn't ever look at it again, and I wanted something that gave me
easy access to the feelings of the recent days that otherwise seem to
disappear completely.

~~~
Jeff_Brown
If you ever feel constrained by the tree data structure, you might like
Semantic Synchrony, which hosts a graph, editable from Emacs:

[https://github.com/synchrony/smsn](https://github.com/synchrony/smsn)

(I'm a minor author of the project. It's kind of in a state of disrepair; Josh
and I are both working on replacements for it. But it works!)

------
aryik
Out of curiosity, what encrypted notes app do you use? I’d be interested in a
simple notes app with a clean UI, cloud sync, and encryption. I’ve played with
cryptpad [1] a little bit and it’s good, but maybe a little too feature-heavy.
It’s closer to google docs.

[1] [https://cryptpad.fr/](https://cryptpad.fr/)

~~~
philips
I have been using pass[1]. Lots of git hosting providers out there and mobile
apps. I just have an alias that runs

    
    
      pass edit journal/$(date '+%Y-%m-%d')
    

And I run the alias when the mood hits me. Then

    
    
      pass git push origin
    

[1] [https://www.passwordstore.org/](https://www.passwordstore.org/)

~~~
topmonk
Also use pass (for passwords). That's a clever hack, thanks.

------
sh87
Minimalist Journalling [1] for a more visual journalling experience

[1]: [https://medium.com/better-humans/draft-how-to-hack-your-
brai...](https://medium.com/better-humans/draft-how-to-hack-your-brain-to-
achieve-consistency-that-lasts-7f5fdc520d28)

~~~
drivers99
Thanks for the link. I started using this method in the last few days because
of it.

------
holri
A journal is typically structured by date. I often find it more useful to have
it by theme / project to see the progress easily and find things.
Unfortunately I end up having a date journal because not everything fits in a
project and more or less one journal for every project. I want access by date
and project at the same time. How do others handle this?

~~~
kungtotte
If your journal is digital wouldn't this be solved by some sort of tagging
system and some helper scripts? Journal primarily by date, but tag entries
with a project name, and have a script to filter on tags.

~~~
holri
Yes I tried this with org-mode, but my tags should be hierarchically nested 3
or 4 levels since some projects are quite large and need structure. This gets
unfeasible with tags.

~~~
kungtotte
todo.txt has `+project` and `@context` fields, you could either follow that
format (different leading characters) or use `@main@sub1@sub2` or
`@main/sub1/sub2` for hierarchial project tags.

I mean, anything that's well formed and won't clash with typical project names
is going to work.

Or rely on the file system. `journal/` as the root non-project folder and then
`journal/project/sub1/`.

~~~
anoncake
You can put slashes in Org tags. I think OP is looking for tooling that
actually understands that they form a hierarchy.

There is something like that in Org though as I just found out.[1]

[1] [https://orgmode.org/manual/Tag-
hierarchy.html](https://orgmode.org/manual/Tag-hierarchy.html)

------
yowlingcat
I used to journal a ton in college, which is going on a decade ago. It helped
my mind so much to be able to have my internal dialogues; I was learning and
practicing so much, so having a built-in feedback loop made my life so much
easier.

For some reason, this all changed when I entered the work world. Perhaps I
simply didn't have the time or energy to do it anymore; for some reason, as
hectic as college seemed, I sure did have a lot more time and energy than I do
now. Some of this must be age, but some of it seems to be me having fallen off
the horse and lost the mental muscles. I noticed the same thing in physical
form when I fell off the wagon exercise wise a year ago.

Has anyone experienced something similar?

~~~
Baeocystin
I found journaling useful when I was younger, and developing my first pass of
thinking loops and algorithms.

As I've gotten older, I have found that I can do the same work faster just in
my head. I've spoken with others who feel along similar lines. I don't feel
that I've fallen off a horse, or atrophied any mental muscle. I simply think
that journaling served its purpose at the appropriate time, and I have since
moved on to other techniques.

~~~
yowlingcat
This is a good point. As I've gotten older, it's gotten way easier than it
used to be to work with complex constructions in my head without needing to do
it in writing -- at least with things that I've practiced quite a bit and have
a base level of competence with.

I still find that this is not always true with new things that I learn. In
contrast to when I was younger, the learning new things part happens less and
less frequently, to my chagrin.

------
aantix
It’s never about the tool or process. It’s always about the questions.

What’s the most uncomfortable thing you encountered today?

What’s the most uncomfortable truth you said out loud today?

What did you think about most today?

What did you mentally push aside today instead of thinking it through and
openly saying your conclusions?

If there isn’t a tension, a resistant, a sorrow, you didn’t make a break
through.

~~~
topmonk
> If there isn’t a tension, a resistant, a sorrow, you didn’t make a break
> through.

Sounds masochistic. How can you determine whether this is helping or hurting?
If you are regularly searching for things to make you sad and tense, you could
be conditioning your mind to seek and find those things.

~~~
aantix
Resistance.

If you’re resisting then it’s counterproductive. Borderline trauma.

But if you’re ready to face it.. that’s therapy.

~~~
copperx
Good mental health therapy is emotionally difficult, so you may be onto
something. There is even some evidence that shows that self therapy can be
effective (e.g., reading Feeling Good).

However, journaling as therapy is not very structured, and there is no
compelling reason to continue when the going gets though. I wouldn't recommend
it just yet instead of seeing a real, capable therapist.

------
thomas
Highly recommend using paper and pen. The act of writing on paper seems to
store memories better for me and make me more thoughtful. Plus no digital
editing if you find something embarrassing or are in a better mood later.

I use the hobonichi Techo which is a cool Japanese journal:
[https://unsharpen.com/paper/hobonichi-techo-
cousin/](https://unsharpen.com/paper/hobonichi-techo-cousin/) . The notebook
has nice features and some structure to it to keep you interested in the
journal. Their 2020 models are dropping soon.

------
n1000
It also a very effective technique to reduce anxiety and very useful for
people with ADHD. This is one of my 3 goto methods when in distress: write for
30 minutes, go for a run, or meditate.

[https://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/211.full](https://science.sciencemag.org/content/331/6014/211.full)
[https://www.additudemag.com/benefits-of-journal-writing-
for-...](https://www.additudemag.com/benefits-of-journal-writing-for-adults-
with-adhd/)

------
telesilla
I've been sending myself a letter to future for a few years now via
[https://www.futureme.org](https://www.futureme.org)

This has been quite extraordinary, and doesn't take too long. Sadly I'm not
motivated enough to write regularly but having at least one day a year when I
think about things, is wonderful.

------
nemild
For those interested, Morning Pages are pretty great as well (3 pages each
morning of quick, freeform writing):

[https://www.chriswinfield.com/morning-
pages/](https://www.chriswinfield.com/morning-pages/)

------
DoreenMichele
If you have any health issues, a journal where you talk about symptoms, diet,
etc can be an enormously valuable tool.

~~~
jborichevskiy
Curious if any sort of data analysis on such a journal would be of use to a
doctor (securing this would be a nightmare, of course). Perhaps combined with
the notes a doctor takes to validate/disprove expected behavior or effects
from medication or simply provide insights otherwise difficult to glean from a
hurried conversation.

~~~
DoreenMichele
I have no idea.

Anecdotally:

A mom of someone with cystic fibrosis traced her child's lung bleeds to
exposure to chemicals used in a dark room to develop photographs. They were
then able to prevent further bleeds, at least from that source. (IIRC, her
child was a teen or young adult taking a class or pursuing a hobby.)

A woman who works at the CDC was undergoing cancer treatment. Her husband took
photographs regularly of her arms, I think. Photographic evidence convinced
them her symptoms were getting clearly worse. They used this to convince her
doctor to change her chemo drug sooner rather than later.

~~~
goshx
O good website for things like this is:
[https://www.patientslikeme.com/](https://www.patientslikeme.com/)

~~~
copperx
And if you are a cancer patient,
[https://www.smartpatients.com](https://www.smartpatients.com) is great.

------
lkrubner
It's important to me to measure my own intellectual growth. Which opinions
have changed? Which opinions have stayed the same?

A simply example: Back in 2008, another era of the Web, I wrote "How Much Do
Websites Cost?" For years, this was the most popular thing I had written. It
is interesting for me to look back and see which parts of it have gone
obsolete. The types of websites being built has changed dramatically, and the
focus has shifted to phone apps, but the stuff at the end of the essay, about
how to build a startup, and what kind of leadership is needed, remains true.

[http://www.smashcompany.com/business/how-much-do-websites-
co...](http://www.smashcompany.com/business/how-much-do-websites-cost)

~~~
sireat
It would be fascinating to see an update to your original article especially
on the costs these days.

------
perl4ever
Now and then I get the urge to write a log-structured filesystem...but I never
got around to it.

------
johntash
> Enough of the wishy-washy: time for the practical. I use a simple encrypted
> notes application on my laptop, accessible from my phone (super handy when
> out and about).

Anyone know what app the author uses, or have any recommendations?

I've been using Joplin a lot lately, but not the encryption feature. I've also
been getting back into org-mode and thought about using it for journaling, but
I don't think I could access encrypted org notes on my android phone.

~~~
jkeat
I recommend checking out Standard Notes!

[https://standardnotes.org/](https://standardnotes.org/)

------
solidist
I liked his post. He discovered something similar to my own discovery that I
reflected on below. Although the write does not highlight the journaling
technique, it is invaluable to rationalize.

[https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-manager-stew-
dd59cd653728](https://medium.com/hackernoon/the-manager-stew-dd59cd653728)

I am still trying to figure out proper structure, right now it's still time
based. I have found patterns forming in journaling:

1\. Always write it out. Typing is good, however with writing I remember
better and it sticks longer. Having a large stack of pocket moleskins has
weight I cannot seem to fully describe.

2\. The more I write, the more I realize that threads/channels of thought are
working on different things continuously.

3\. TODO's naturally form. Write them down as they come has serious potential
for getting things done. Keep checkmarks and reflect back after some time.
Watch for patterns.

4\. Rating myself on how I feel personally and professionally daily has lead
to some deep discoveries.

5\. Letting people know exactly how many days you've been at your job (yes,
writing down the number of days since starting on each entry) has interesting
side effects in conversations.

------
ulisesrmzroche
I’ve been using a self-hosted Wordpress install. It works great. Set it in
private mode and you got all you need really

My template is writing what happened during my day, event by event, before I
go to sleep. More of a narrative than anything

If I feel esoteric that day I write it backwards, recounting events from end
of day to start of day

As for permanence, I figure Wordpress will be there long after me. I’ll
definitely die before Wordpress does, of that im sure

------
sh87
> It’s helped me realize just how few of the things I worry about turn into
> the worst-case scenarios (so much wasted brainpower) but on the flipside
> just how easy it is to forget the essence of the very experiences that make
> me, me. Most importantly, it’s helped me keep an eye on the important things
> in life - my goals, aspirations, and the people I love in my life - and I
> hope it helps you too.

This hit it home for me.

------
maehwasu
I noticed that a lot of days/weeks/months started to blur together as I got
older (and I’m not that old).

I started keeping a very factual journal each day.

Every hour or so, I write down where I was and what I did—subjective
impressions are optional.

It’s been really helpful in jogging my memory and seeing where my mind was at
a few months prior.

I just do it in a note program on my phone, so I can fill it in while walking,
in the bathroom, etc.

~~~
TheOtherHobbes
This is what I do. It's very dry and terse but I find it useful to keep track
of time spent and achievements completed. It's very easy to feel as if I've
been doing nothing, whereas in reality that's very rarely true.

I tried emotional/confessional journaling for a good few years but I really
didn't find it helpful or insightful.

The things that work for me include exploring my surroundings, almost any kind
of creative work, napping, and talking to friends/partner.

~~~
maehwasu
Yup. I find it's awesome to experience the rich emotional things, and then
write the boring dry things so that you can recall the former easily.

------
unicornporn
I've been using [https://jrnl.sh/](https://jrnl.sh/)

Uses a plain text file.

------
HermanMartinus
I like to think of my journal kinda like a sprint retrospective. What went
well? What didn’t go well? What could I improve and how?

I also built a journaling system that works via email and sms to lower the
barrier to writing [https://somewordsfor.me](https://somewordsfor.me)

------
ekianjo
Vimwiki has a very handy setup for journaling.

~~~
em-bee
could you link to it directly please?

~~~
matt-snider
Also do a lot of journaling with VimWiki. Works well

[https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki](https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki)

------
OJFord
What I'd like from a journal (which I don't presently keep) is insight into,
or to confirm my belief of, which projects/ideas/goals I'm spending most time
(distinct days) thinking about.

Any recommendations for a tool that'll let me heavily tag my entries, and then
visualise them as #occurrences vs. time?

Second best would be a good search and JSON or whatever output from it, so
that I can do the graphing myself.

My only other 'requirement' would be that it's not some proprietary system,
seems silly to trust something like this to someone else's format and disk
exclusively.

~~~
sixhobbits
Jrnl.sh has a basic but pretty powerful tagging system. Any word that starts
with @ is a tag and you can filter tags using and/or. Doesn't really do the
visualisation but should be easy to build on top

------
soneca
I am starting a small journaling web app: www.quidsentio.com focused on mental
health

Still a long way to go, so would appreciate feedback on what direction to go

------
mercacona
I do journal too for my own sanity. It really helps when you're not a person
capable of express your emotions openly.

Chatting with my future self, allows me to assume that most of my worries are
lame and realize how those are compromising my behavior.

Also, I do now understand that people around me do speak out their own
troubles in the conversations that bored me in the past...

~~~
jborichevskiy
Yes, this! I don’t mean to make light of people’s conversations whatsoever but
in my experience sometimes a good conversation is simply a back and forth
friendly and unbiased exploration of a worry or struggle, future or past. The
ideal outcome is not figuring out the next 5 steps - or even coming away with
any sort of conclusion about whether it _should_ be solved. It simply provides
space to voice aloud thoughts, theorize, and empathize with the other(s).

------
badrabbit
For me, I can't trust computers for that and I can't physically secure a paper
journal well enough to where I can pour my deepest thoughts and intentions on
it.

------
raywu
Do you all feel like sharing certain journal entries with close friends?

~~~
jborichevskiy
I’ve shared snippets but not entire entries, though I wouldn’t be surprised if
I do at some point. The desire to share is there at times but I think it’d
have to be a particularly interesting/insightful entry- which is usually much
better discussed in conversation with close friends anyway.

------
agumonkey
Isn't it how blogging started long ago ?

------
qzx_pierri
hey OP, can you post a link to that hugo blog? Its so sick.

~~~
jborichevskiy
Here it is! I can’t take the credit at all- that goes to panr.

[https://themes.gohugo.io/hugo-theme-hello-
friend/](https://themes.gohugo.io/hugo-theme-hello-friend/)

------
johnny_reilly
I misread this title as "I find journalists indispensable" and thought "yeah!
Too right!"

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maksimum
Whenever I hear people talk about picking up journaling I come away a little
annoyed.

They publicly describe a habit that they claim is useful. To me that implies
that they're suggesting others invest time into the habit.

But I've never been compelled by the arguments. I haven't seen someone try to
make (even qualitatively) refutable claims. If you don't make refutable
claims, how can I experiment in order to see whether the habit makes sense for
me?

~~~
journalctl
I don’t think you need to be quite so methodical.. Just try it. If you don’t
like it, adjust a bit or stop. Or don’t try it at all. The blog post isn’t
meant to be insulting or some kind of assault on people who don’t journal.

~~~
csallen
What does the ctl stand for in your name?

~~~
johnmaguire2013
journalctl is an executable from the Linux systemd suite. It is used for
accessing logs stored by journald. It stands for control.

~~~
journalctl
Indeed! I wanted to comment on a post about journaling so it seemed like a
clever username. :)

