Why Do I Write In a Journal

Reflection

I was going through some questions from Quora. I have answered some questions from the site, and other questions I was looking at the upvotes from the questions I had already answered. Confused? Let me explain:

By now, if you have been following me since 2014 (officially February 2022, when I started writing), you know by now that I am answering questions on Quora. These are questions on topics I know about, such as:

Is Disney Princess Culture Messing with our Daughters?

How to get Internet Traffic to my Website (Etsy shop, Pinterest page) and so forth?

Why did Captain Janeway decide to stay in the Delta Quadrant instead of using the Caretaker’s array to get home?

And this question that I will write about today; “Write do I write in a journal?” This was the answer I wrote three years ago, and I received another upvote for it today.

“I would start a general journal. Write about your day, including any feelings you have about the day. This is the same as a diary. If you want to be more specific, keep a food journal, a grateful journal (gratitude), or a work journal. You do not have to write in a journal. If you are an artist, keep an art journal. You can also write a journal about your collections if you have any. It is your journal.

Personally, I keep an “everyday” (general) journal, a business journal, a project journal (which is separate from my business journal), and a planning journal (one for a Disney trip I am planning and a possible business project journal). I know too much, but for me, it is perfect. The business journal, especially the first one, is for things such as IRS dealings and proof of copyright stuff, to prove that I thought of the products I have.”

I also received a comment from someone who thought that I was wasting my life writing journals because I mentioned that I had several journals I wrote in. I gave that person who commented something to snack on: "I do find time to be with family and friends, work, and sleep. I am sorry you find my life so disturbing.” I am nice, but I must question and correct people when they find my life not like their own. When I read the comment I made to that person, I felt that I had to address something, even though the comment I made was over three years ago, and it is something that I want you to take to heart.

Five Reasons for Journaling

Everything you do in life does not need to be an explanation unless you are harming yourself or another person. It takes wisdom to come to this conclusion, and I love it. Why should I have to explain my reason for writing in journals? The answer to that is simple…. Because I want to. I want to give you all the tools you need to become a writer if you are a seasoned writer or just getting started. Here are my top five reasons for writing in a journal. Some of these reasons may overlap in a more recent article, but that’s okay. For important stuff like this, I do not mind repeating myself.

1. For clarity.

I often have questions about many things and events in my life. My most recent one caused me to take a month’s break from my business: my mother's death. I was not questioning why she died because I knew that the illness, she had would eventually kill her, but if she would have lived, the next question would have been, “how would I take care of her if something were to happen to my father?” Sure, there would have been provisions for that in the monetary scheme of things, and God has a funny way of showing you that He will take care of the very thing you have questions about. Part of those questions was a little selfish, and most of them were authentic questions I had about my mother. Although my heart was heavy when she died and still is, it worked out for the best. It is hard when you are the only sibling in town.

These are the questions you document in your journal, and you document the answers as well. This is where you can put inspirational messages, medical and financial advice, religious sources, or anything for clarity.

2. For documentation

I mentioned in my answer that I keep business journals. Yes, that documentation is for my businesses, P. Lynne Designs and The Writing Cove. I also kept blog journals, but I found that the best place to find out what I had written about a topic before is to look on my blogs, Medium, Vocal Media, and Hubpages. Yes, I do know about data breaches and all the good nasty stuff that can plague one’s writing diary, but I have a backup in the form of an Erin Condren Academic Planner I order each year and convert to a blog/writing planner. For the important stuff, I have something else to keep tabs on financial papers, tax information, and other things like that. The same goes for any new product development.

You may not want to do this, but it helps me.

3. The piss-off papers

Yes, in my personal journal, I get angry. For those entries, I like to call it “Patricia’s Pissed off, so do not test me.” They look like normal entries until you read them. I scream in ALL CAPS, complain, laugh, and cry through my typing. One of the things I do not allow myself to do while writing these entries and throws things. I have found that I break things in the process. I rushed to stores after the fact to buy new a new mouse, a new landline phone (yes, I still do have one), and keyboards. I have scared my cat and myself. So, the new rule as of 2019 was I am not allowed to throw things while writing “Pissed off” entries.

4. Hopes and dreams

Yes, I have hopes and dreams for my nephews and their families. I still write about becoming a mom to a human one day (being a mom to a furbaby is fun), and I still want success for my business. I hope to one day move from my condominium into a single-family home and hit it big. I also started my Disney entries here.

What are Disney entries? These are special entries for an up-and-coming trip I am planning for the family. I put it in OneNote, which contains almost everything from travel dates to the itinerary and agent information. Note I did not say financial information. Because the journal, which is called a project journal, is on my computer, I did not want that information to be on the app in case. Not only that, but I also love using my spreadsheet to sit and calculate that type of information. I also keep up with that sort of information in the app that it belongs to, which is the travel agency that I am making payments to, Disney (through their My Experience app), my Erin Condren Monthly planner (which I also keep up any payouts and budget in), and my bank. Since I am close to my trip, I will also start a binder.

Why am I late with starting a binder? I will explain my Disney experience with making booking reservations later, but I started a binder back in 2014 for a Disney trip, and we had to cancel it. It had something to do with mommy getting sick (a different illness from what she died from, but I suspect that this was the start of that illness), my sister getting pregnant, and my aunt and uncle deciding to renew their vows the same month that we were trying to go to Disney, so I had to cancel the reservations.

5. Just because I can

This is my conclusion to this article, and I want to end it on a high note, reason #5. When I can no longer write in a journal, by that time, technology would have improved with a new way to record your experiences, the ups and downs, and even little pearls of wisdom to those left behind.

One of the biggest reasons anyone would write in a journal is that they can. In addition to what I said about recording experiences, leaving behind what you want the world to know about you, especially if you are famous (The Diary of Anne Frank). I may not have had to hide from Nazi soldiers because I am of a different religion, but I am still a person of color.

Conclusion

If you think that writing in a journal is just a schoolgirl’s pastime, think again. I do my biggest thinking while writing and am not afraid of my thought process either. I keep track of things in the past, experiences of the present, and ideas of the future. Experts say that writing helps people to recall all sorts of things in their life.

I will revisit this topic because I have more to say on the subject. My eight minutes are up for now.