Journaling as a tool for processing your past and reimagining your future

I've been keeping a journal on my phone since 2012. (It gets cringier the further back you go.)

But journaling is technically a form of creative writing that evolves with you, more than any other. Suleika Jaouad's book on journaling, The Book of Alchemy: A Creative Practice for an Inspired Life, sounds like it might describe what's going on when I'm feeling apprehensive about the future and just want to imagine a better world around it.

In How journaling can help you through hard times, Jaouad talks specifically about writing her way through leukemia. Although she's finished thousands of journals in her lifetime, she doesn't look back at her past journal entries. Sometimes going back to the person you used to be makes you feel immature in the present, or gives you permission to get in your own head or forget the progress you've made.

I kinda like to embrace the cringe! It's given me some ideas on how to write younger characters who haven't yet explored the world outside of their homes and schools.

Some people think you need to have good handwriting to be "a journaler," or that it's a committment requiring a special place to write, a special notebook, etc. Most of my entries in Day One are a sentence long. I write on the bus daily. I yap about my feelings in between meetings, jot down quick notes about scenes I want to add to my novel or changes I should make in characters' dialogue. I scrolled through the last three months' worth of entries and realized that almost every single day I complained about not getting enough sleep. (Half of those were probably written at night, in my bed.)

When I want to go longform or have a lot to explore, I have a Traveler's Notebook. It's fancy, feels good to write in, and can be customized in dozens of ways. I even added a credit card insert and used it as a wallet for a while, since it was always in my hand anyway. These days it's harder and harder to make time for true, unadulterated navel-gazing; since I stopped working corporate jobs, I've had fewer "hurry up and wait" periods. No redeye flights, no trains cross-country. Apparently that's what kept me honest. I guess the traveler's notebook lives up to its name.

Whatever your barrier to entry is, do what you can to skirt around it and try journaling in a way that suits your lifestyle. I've been consistent in Day One for 1,445 days and counting. Keep it simple! Make a pact to try it for a week, and if it doesn't stick, move on to a different format. I've really enjoyed being able to look back at my life and see what I cared about, how I moved through the world, what triggered me, and how it does or doesn't affect me today.