Ask HN: Has journaling improved your life?

What originally started as blog/newsletter fuel has become a way to offload thoughts. As I work through a new sense of identity being a father, it has helped lighten my mindset. By getting the bad/sad/unfortunate things "on paper" I feel like I am more equipped to take on the work day.

My technique is as simple as possible. I open a new Notion doc, start a 10 minute timer, and write until I hear the ding. If I could disable the backspace/delete key I would. The goal is just to write with no priority given to quality.

I say the same exact things to others about my experience. I love that it captures a snapshot of my life a truly unique period in US history. It captures my adventures jogging through the center of NYC busy streets during the lockdown, and all sorts of other adventures. I can tell you in reasonable detail every single notable thing about my last holiday trip, or any other place I've been.

I've also become the de-facto historian in my household. When my wife remembers something and wants to know a detail about it, I'm usually able to give at least a general summary of the experience.

In order to get over any resistance, I made a deal with myself that I could put as little or as much in as I want, and that I wouldn't be too personal. I guess you could say it's somewhat of an everyday travelog. It's the first time in my life that I actually carried through with journalling.

I've also been able to pick out trends when I compare the data on my Whoop vs activities and meals on a certain day. I don't always capture my meals, but I do often enough that it provides help when I'm trying to find a trend.

Here's a really strange random trend I discovered: On nights where I eat burrito bowls from Chipotle, I get measurably more deep and REM sleep.

I could go on all day about the ways my journal has been useful. I'll leave it there.

Edit: Just for fun, I send a link to this thread to my wife. She mistook your post as being from me at first. LOL

For the benefits: - Writing: I'm faster and clearer than before, and I continue to progress. - Memory: When I feel unproductive at the end of the week, I look back at my entries. Most of the times, I have to recognize that I did more than I remembered at the moment. - Structure: In the morning, it signals "work starts now". At 4:30 PM, it means "put an end to the current tasks, and setup tomorrow for success". - Personal: It helps to process emotions and internal grumblings.

It took me a while to stop caring about journaling and actually start using my journal for /anything/. At first, I felt obligated to make an entry each day, fill all the fields, tick all the boxes, and be happy with the result. You don't have to. It's your journal, you can do whatever so make it work for you.

Personally, I feel there are many benefits to it, mainly:

1. It gives me time to think, to process my thoughts, explore ideas, and handle emotions. I often learn a lot about myself, what I did well, and how I can improve.

2. It is a great way to preserve memories. Only after I started writing my journal did I realize how much I forget about my past. I've always taken photos throughout my life, but those only capture a very small part of my life. My worries, the music I listened to, the TV-series I raved about, my dreams, my thoughts on the books I've read, the deep talks with my friends, are all preserved in my journal. It is easy to remember your vacations to exotic locations, but do you remember your everyday life from years back?

3. It can be meditative. It feels great to be able to sit for up to an hour and write without any barriers. I don't have to stress about my writing style, the words I use, embarrassing stuff about myself. I truly feel I can express myself to the fullest.

I'm really happy that I decided to write my journal in Markdown. This format can be opened pretty much everywhere, even on my phone or my moms computer. Furthermore, it enables me to do some crude formatting for code, create headings, and even attach images. And since it is digital, I can search in it pretty easily.