Problem with writing a journal..

[Lost until Found]

I recently came upon a website about the point of writing a journal and the benefits of it. This is what I read:

"Keeping a journal is one of the most personally rewarding activities you can undertake. Journaling fosters creativity and introspection. A journal is the perfect place to express your most personal thoughts--after all, it's for your eyes only."

-The highlighted part is my problem. It’s only for my eyes, so why should I write a journal if no one else is going to see it? If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it fall? Of course! But if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it matter??? No. The problem is, I want to write my thoughts down as I feel they'd be a good way to let off emotions (and they are!) but how can I overcome this difficulty of feeling no one else will see my writing and so it's entirely pointless to make a 'diary' when trying to write my thoughts done?

PS: I got a complaint saying if a tree falls in a forest it DOES matter because that means someone or something is destroying the forest..i'm not talking about a forest being destroyed, just a single tree in a million of others falling due to natural causes. It's really not even about the tree that much, just the metaphor.

 

[EvilScientist Trainee]

I have once kept a journal myself.

And well, that's the whole point of it. It is your place to write and then, some time later, read. I can tell that many of my worries at the time seemed really trivial once i read them after writing them down.

That's because whenever you're writing, you are letting go of those emotions. Once you read, you'll take a different look, almost as if you were outside of that problem. You'll be likely to see what you have not noticed, see the situation from a toned down perspective, and be able to solve the problem accurately.

If you want someone to help, you could try a blog, or perhaps tell the history to a close friend. But if you want to help yourself out, reading your thoughts make it easier. It's not a magic solution, of course, but it's a valuable tool.

 

[EyeSeeCold]

I say you should write a blog instead of a personal journal. I mean it doesn't matter, you might as well let others read your interesting stories.

I mostly just go over experiences in my head and don't stop to write them down, unless I especially didn't want to forget.

 

[preilemus]

For me, a journal really helps with problem solving. If I have all these different pieces floating around in my head it's sometimes difficult to make sense of it all, but when I put it down on paper everything gets a better chance of coming together in a coherent way.

It also helps with self-honesty. When nobody is going to read those words & you know it, you may start noticing some of the façades you put up for presentation, and (hopefully) that you don't need them in a journal, since all they're good for is getting in the way anyways...

Just some things for you to chew on.

 

[nemo]

It's quite hard to keep a journal, for me. I have many journals that have been started and then have left off to nowhere. I keep starting them though. One day, a few years back, I realised how many years I had already lived, and how much of that that I had forgotten. From then, I began to have a huge fear that one day, I would remember nothing. So I basically try keeping journals so I can write down some of my thoughts and experiences to keep with me as I head into the future.

And yeah, like someone said, reading back on your thoughts from your past self is quite interesting. Learning/self-help experience! Yay! >__>

 

[LPolaright]

It's hard for me to write a journal to release my emotions because I'm afraid someone would read it one day and find out all the lies I've fed people with. Self honesty is an issue when I can't express it on paper and thus I can't really track it and nourish it.

But it's hell of a method for problem solving, especially when talking about the long term. Idea's sink in better when you write them in paper, even more so when devising a structure or a model.

I think that the point of writing a journal is the fact that you can review it in your mind. The fact that you wrote something on paper is an act that gives you another way to memorize a line of thought.

 

[MunkySpanker]

I recently came upon a website about the point of writing a journal and the benefits of it. This is what I read:

"Keeping a journal is one of the most personally rewarding activities you can undertake. Journaling fosters creativity and introspection. A journal is the perfect place to express your most personal thoughts--after all, it's for your eyes only."

-The highlighted part is my problem. It’s only for my eyes, so why should I write a journal if no one else is going to see it? If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it fall? Of course! But if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it matter??? No. The problem is, I want to write my thoughts down as I feel they'd be a good way to let off emotions (and they are!) but how can I overcome this difficulty of feeling no one else will see my writing and so it's entirely pointless to make a 'diary' when trying to write my thoughts done?

PS: I got a complaint saying if a tree falls in a forest it DOES matter because that means someone or something is destroying the forest..i'm not talking about a forest being destroyed, just a single tree in a million of others falling due to natural causes. It's really not even about the tree that much, just the metaphor.

I agree. I had a xanga.com account for years, and my friends that happened upon it really really liked what I had to write. as for my personal enjoyment, nill. It's like, I already had those thoughts, wrote them down, and maybe I may re-read my entries 10 years from now and smile, but that's about it.

I get a rise out of giving other people a rise, pushing others buttons, and getting attention, the good way or the bad way. I have this awesome power where I can piss you off for doing absolutely nothing, can insult you with a compliment, and compliment you with an insult.

it's funny how many emotions are floating around here when your friends probably nickname you after that Wrestler: Stone Cold Steve Austin.

whaddup.

 

[MunkySpanker]

I recently came upon a website about the point of writing a journal and the benefits of it. This is what I read:

"Keeping a journal is one of the most personally rewarding activities you can undertake. Journaling fosters creativity and introspection. A journal is the perfect place to express your most personal thoughts--after all, it's for your eyes only."

-The highlighted part is my problem. It’s only for my eyes, so why should I write a journal if no one else is going to see it? If a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it fall? Of course! But if a tree falls in a forest and no one’s around to see it does it matter??? No. The problem is, I want to write my thoughts down as I feel they'd be a good way to let off emotions (and they are!) but how can I overcome this difficulty of feeling no one else will see my writing and so it's entirely pointless to make a 'diary' when trying to write my thoughts done?

PS: I got a complaint saying if a tree falls in a forest it DOES matter because that means someone or something is destroying the forest..i'm not talking about a forest being destroyed, just a single tree in a million of others falling due to natural causes. It's really not even about the tree that much, just the metaphor.

...although...

after my father passed away, I wrote him a letter, put it in a plastic bottle. I haven't been to the ocean to throw it in yet. My mom cleaned out the room the other day and found it, was from like 3 years ago, either way -- when I wrote that letter to him (I don't really believe in God afterlife or anything) -- there was some comfort in knowing there's a percentage chance he heard my words. But selfishly, at least I got it off my chest.

 

[ecsange]

Journal writing is for yourself, but could also be for your posterity, even if that posterity comes through a niece or nephew or a cousin or friend's children. A posthumous journal can be of tremendous value, a teacher of history, ideas, things learned, trials overcome and successes enjoyed. It is worthy writing a journal for many reasons.

ecsange
Book Marketing Manager: Cathedral of Dreams by Terry Persun, A Kingdom's Possession, Nicole Persun
Booktrope Publishing
www.booktrope.com
www.booktropepublishing.com:king-twitter:

 

[Rakshasa]

I like to imagine that when I become a part of the revolution, eternally on the run. I would leave my journals scattered among the people. Then they could make sense of, and benefit from some of the results of my introspection... I also like to think I'll remember to tear out all of the petty stuff.

Or that, in the future, I can develope some of the ideas in my journal into a book. Ideas that would have been lost to the wind, otherwise. Or maybe in reflection, I can reach a new hypothesis, or revelation regarding myself.

It's a practical tool of rigorous psychoanalysis. I use it as such.

 

[Moocow]

I can't keep a journal because I don't read anything I write after it's completed... even notes from my course lectures, forum posts, chat logs. Some friends will sometimes show me jokes I made or things I said from months or years ago and I have absolutely no recollection! It's like reading something someone else said, and I like it that way.

Chat logs largely serve this purpose though. I have a good ESTJ online buddy that logs practically everything people say to him, and it's nice to get reminded of old times. I just can't (won't) really do it for myself.

@Rakshasa might it be disingenuous to leave out the petty things? If anyone's going to care about all the insights it humanizes them to have a contrast.

 

[Rakshasa]

@Rakshasa might it be disingenuous to leave out the petty things? If anyone's going to care about all the insights it humanizes them to have a contrast.

That is... Entirely fair. A fact that I hadn't thought of. I fear acknowledging most of those things though.

Something to consider. It's a proposition I accept, I would prefer humanity. Thanks for that input.

 

[Mello]

It'll be useful if I ever get retrograde amnesia.

Spoiler

I write down what I feel to be important.

 

[The Gopher]

I write someone elses journal.

 

[snafupants]

This admission may put me in the minority, especially here, but I normally write to precipitate a stream of consciousness mindset in which my motives and reservations and aspirations, eventually, become apparent. The starting point is almost irrelevant because the aim is to uncover what's really going on internally; that said, after I enter this faux trance I like to trace my thoughts back from start to finish. This is sounding oddly Freudian and psychodynamic but it's really not that wispy and daft. Maybe I should adhere to this same protocol under the influence?