Hey Gents, One of my new years resolutions was to start journaling. Originally, I was just going to do The Art of Manliness Challenge https://www.artofmanliness.com/FCR/AoM-30-Days.pdf which I completed but after it was over, I kept on writing in my journal book sometimes on a daily basis but mostly a weekly basis. Be a Better Man in 30 Days | The Art of Manliness I have always tried to keep a travel journal but my year of journaling has been somewhat therapeutic. It has also been a great way to measure growth from writing down recipes keeping myself honest about my marriage and career. Do any of you journal?
I tried doing it twice. I tried as a teenager in 2005 and another time in 2010. I think writing so much and forcing myself to make it a habit kinds just made me stop and I hated it. I wanted to write a journal so that one day I can look back and reflect on how I felt on those days.
I have a journal that I write in very sporadically. I have been writing in that journal since sophomore year of college. It's usually when I am going through a life crisis(breakups, death in the family, etc.) or a significant life change(moving to a new city, traveling ,etc.). Sometimes, I just get inspired while talking to strangers or following an event that it prompts me to write in my journal too. I found this to be practical and much more *personally* fulfilling than sitting on my bed and staring at a blank page every night just because everybody says I should make it a daily habit.
I have done a lot of journaling this year and I have fallen off sadly. I was using it to post on my blog that I started to trek my journey in life to getting back to acting and finding my purpose and now it has just gotten harder and harder to write in it more consistently because of time constraints between being in a play, moving, and trying to work enough to pay down on debts etc.
It's almost as if you were in my head. I tried twice before in life, one as a teen and again in my younger 20's. It just never stuck and felt like a chore. I then tried to blog...that didn't work. I think it's a super dope idea though.
I keep a journal, but I mainly write about this story idea I have, just writing about the characters, settings, plot, etc. I do record a few other things, though. I try to jot down all I can remember about dreams I've had, and those that I remember from years ago. I also like to jot down interesting things that I hear whether it's inspirational or something quirky. I don't know if this counts, but I also glue ticket stubs from movies, football games, and other attractions in my sketchbook. Sometimes, I'll glue a fortune from a fortune cookie, too.
I have a couple of different journals. Most of which I only write in sporadically. I have an electronic journal where I type up my nighttime dreams so I can remember them later. I want to turn them into short stories some day. I have another journal which I write in when I want to get things off my mind. It sometimes leans negative, but it's better to have those thoughts on paper than ruminating in my mind. And then my "other whole" and I started a thing a couple months back where we each keep journals separate from one another and we write about things we appreciate about each other, why we love each other, good experiences we've had together. The goal is to basically find time to appreciate one another, but to not necessarily read the journal unless we've hit a breaking point. If we run into a major roadblock, we'll re-read what we wrote and if we still feel like there's love there, we'll keep going. If not, then we know it's time to end it.
Tried the journal thing.. failed. but i now record short voice notes or videos on my phone every now and then.
I kept a journal between the ages of 11 and 20. I have over 10 notebooks that I keep in an old bookbag, in my closet. Most of my journal entries would be about how lonely or angry I felt. Depending on how lonely I felt, I would give the journey or the entry a name so It would feel like im taking to someone. Looking back at some of my journals I would sometimes ask, "how could no one see how I was feeling" "was I that good at hiding it, as a teen?" As a teen, u would sometimes feel like two different people, especially when people are giving me complements and telling me how nice of a person I am. In my journals, they would have shorty stories and poems that I created. I would write down two to three page entries if the dreams I've had the night before.
I don't journal, not that there is anything wrong with that. I actually write crime romantic/erotic suspense/horror/thriller stories. Usually based on my feelings. I'm debating as to whether or not I want to get them published or not.
You know what I kind of did that when I was deep into writing short stories. I was frustrated with gay apps like Jackd an a4a. It would feel all the normal and sexy dudes would ignore my messages and the ugly, old dudes or those who are far from my type would always hit me up. While feeling slightly insecure about how I look, frustrated, sad and pissed off at gay dudes on these apps I decided to write a short story for my school's Writing Contest called "The Guy Who wanted to be loved". It was about this dude who catfished this attractive dude who ignored him, on his normal profile. After going to the guys house, as the Catfish, he ended up killing the dude and cut off his face. After cutting the dudes face off, he went into the bathroom mirror and put his face on. From his perspective, after putting the face on, he thought he was now attractive, the type of dude all the gays would go after. Well, even though it felt good writing that story, I did not win the writing contest. Damn bastards didn't even give me Honorable mention. Lmfao