I picked up journaling when I joined the 10 day challenge from Lavendaire. Lavendaire is a community/brand that was created by Aileen, whom I followed in Youtube. The challenge officially started on 19 July 2020 and I’ve been journaling every other day (and yes, there are some days I forgot to write, occasionally) for about 20–25 minutes since then. I’m not sure if this has become a routine/habit at this point. Only time will tell.

Where do I write?

I chose a small size A6 notebook. It’s cute and doesn’t make me feel like I’m forced to fill up a blank A4 page. If I want to write my journal in a cafe, this notebook is great to bring along. The downsize is that it will probably last for 2 months of journaling.

How much do I write?

I usually write up to 3–4 pages every time I journal. That constitutes to A4 page. I do know other people can write even more like 3–4 A4 pages. I never thought I could write that much at the beginning. But somehow when I asked myself what I wanted to say now, then thoughts and feelings just kept flowing. I guess that’s the result of being comfortable with myself, my own thoughts and feelings no matter how extreme it can be.

What do I write about?

Just thoughts, feelings and reflection of past events. There’s no specific topic. I usually started with reflection of past events in 2 days. I don’t even try to remember everything, but just notable events. Then my mind just naturally drifted to other thoughts and feelings. Sometimes, I even write what I plan to do tomorrow or weekend. Sometimes, I wrote about my view on specific topics.

What do I learn from it?

To me, journaling is such a personal experience that I don’t even think I should get anything out of it. It’s more like I get into the experience. I leave my thoughts and feelings there so I can come back to it next time if I need (e.g. a brilliant idea) or I can just move on without the burden of carrying my past emotions. It does help open up a honest conversation with myself and my thoughts, instead of them fighting quietly inside the mind. What are interesting things about journaling? Journaling is probably the only activity that requires me to write so much (apart from practicing Korean and writing meeting notes). I guess in a way, it helps me train my handwriting though I think it already looks quite nice.

Have I tried other journaling platforms?

I did think of (but never tried) online journaling but nowadays, anything you put up online doesn’t belong to you anymore. I don’t want to have a sense of no-privacy so I just use the old school journaling: pen and paper.