Another catch up post. Doing a daily challenge really shows what type of participant I am!
I might get the days wrong but hey, it's 31 days! I'll have more chances to catch up
- Day 9
The thing with having so many journals with different purposes is having a proper place to store them. A bookshelf seems logical as it allows the books to be lined up and grabbed at a whim but I lack the space for a big enough bookshelf.
Instead I stack my journals which helps with space but somehow journals get lost or forgotten at the bottom of the pile. Just doing this challenge I rediscovered 3 journals that I forgot I even had! I still recalled their purpose but having them at the bottom of the pile meant I wasn't making progress filling it out for its purpose.
It's rough but that's Journal Life!
- Day 10
I have a confession to make...
Sometimes I don't fill out the whole page. Seems like a waste but I feel like whatever contents were on the page must've had a significant meaning for me to not continue writing.
That or nothing incredible or noteworthy actually happened and so I didn't go further. To begin on a half page with previous knowledge or details of a date seems like it would be a messy read so I just go over to a 'fresh' page and begin.
I'm not sure what the proper journal etiquette is regarding wasting precious page space but it's just how I think. Significant entries need their own page.
- Day 11
I sometimes listen to music when I journal. I would prefer quiet but sometimes my thoughts are too loud and I can't focus on what I am writing on. How dumb is that?
I think having 'loud thoughts' stems from trying to think over constant noise generators. The term 'I can't hear myself think!' comes to mind. Instead of waiting for a quiet spot to think I have instead started thinking 'louder' to compensate.
It's nothing good or bad. Just a personal observation I had recently because writing with 'loud thoughts' has been something I've had to fix by playing instrumental music to help me write in my journal.
- Day 12
"What do I do with all of these journals afterwards?" has been a constant thought. It's a piece of me or my knowledge on paper. Is this my legacy? Who the hell wants a bunch of old books written by a possible eccentric?
A journal is an empty book but it begins to hold ones 'voice' or manner of speech and to pass it on to somebody who has never heard me speak seems like a disservice to both the journal and the possible reader.
'I do it for me.' Well that is an objective for sure but I am one who often tries to find a utility for everything so nothing goes to waste. Like if I was filling out a recipe book, that's an easier ask to pass off because it's my observations during cooking, explanation of process and ingredients, and a finished result.
A journal can be too personal to pass off to someone who has no idea who the hell I was prior. There might not even be anything worth reading for them inside it!
Maybe the end result is that the book gets scanned by an AI and recorded for the robot overlords. We'll see!
- Day 13
I try to be logical but emotions are rarely logical and they get put into a journal page during the heat of the moment.
It sucks to re-read that moment because jotting down the emotion response almost instantly spurs it back to memory. It's like how activating a sigil is depicted in story books and movies, Powerful with effects that are instantly felt.
Thankfully though those moments have passed and I can sort of just laugh or shake my head at why those emotions felt the need to be imprinted. Where else to express oneself but inside a journal?
There was no 'guide' on journaling for me. I've heard of journals for many years but never took the time to understand it. I am glad I understand them now and participate in the hobby. It's just all these little 'what-ifs' and 'afterwards' that I ponder about for me and the collection of Journals I am slowly amassing.