I’ve( 22M ) been an overthinker for almost my entire life. Not only that, I have hyper-anxiety and overwhelmness. I haven’t been scheduled with a psychiatrist so far.
A few months ago, I seriously realized that I was wasting my time on devices( phones, laptops etc) and haven’t been paying attention to real life and responsibilities. Because I had made devices as a way to escape from reality.
Then I made a schedule to maintain that included low and controlled use of devices and some other things. Journaling was also a part of that.
I began to write my daily events on a journal app in my phone. I had a physical diary that I started to use to write down advices, methods, facts, important instructions that I was gathering from youtube. That diary is now filled around 60%.
I continued writing my daily journal in the app for 1.5 months and then lost the drive to continue for unknown reason. Consider this one of my main psychological problem. I lose drive very quickly.
Then I realized that, when I continued journaling, I had more control of my overall daily activity that I used to do. I had less laziness, more energy, more drive, healthy sleep schedule etc. And now, it seems that I’ve sunken into my peak rabbithole again.
Now I’m seeking advices from people who turned their life in a positive way by writing journals as a first step. Any other advices except journaling is also welcomed.
I’ve been journaling for the past few years and, like a lot of people will say, it’s not the magic bullet people want it to be. But it is a great tool for sorting thoughts, tracking events, and just a general brain dump. But we all slip every now and again but I will say my experience lines up with yours. I feel that journaling has helped to keep things in my life in control because it forces me to A) keep tabs on myself and B) keep track of the things going on around me.
Another thing is that there is some scientific research that shows writing by hand is better for journaling and memory. I think that by going back to the app after writing so much didn’t help your case. Part of the problem with digital journaling is that distractions are just a button press away. When I sit down to write at the end of the day: my computer is off, my phone is on the desk or charging, and it’s usually quiet or some music on. Being a daily ritual helps keep the train on track. If I dont get to it on the evening then it’s usually the first thing I do in the morning. Routine helps a lot.
Lastly, the tools you choose make a difference. There are a lot of journaling systems out there aside from a notebook/diary. The pens you use should be ones you enjoy using. I’m a fountain pen person and will use a different pen each day and can rotate pens and ink to suit what i feel like using. You could color coordinate entries depending on the mood, emotion, or day. There is a lot out there to make your journal unique instead of black ink in a notebook.
Lastly I will say sometimes life just gets too hectic. You can get so busy, tired, or burned out that you just default to survival mode. For me its ultimately a matter of discipline/ roitine to stay on track and keep up with it as much as possible.
I don’t think journaling has had any magic for me but I really enjoy it. I write my daily tasks, random thoughts, things I learned, and feelings. I really like the act of physically writing especially with fun pens. One thing I came across recently is to right your daily highlights at the end for record keeping.
For all the things I journal except for writing daily activities, I really find them enjoyable and interesting.
I too use 2 physical diary to write down certain things. 1 is for writing down my understanding and explanation of youtube videos, forums, thread, articles that I find informative.
And the 2nd one is for writing down random 1 line thoughts, facts, ideas throughout the entire page.
But I can’t keep myself continuous to write my daily activities for some reason. Firstly, I don’t find it interesting, secondly, I don’t find it useful.
What I DO want to explore is that, I keep hearing people saying that, for those who overthink, writing down their thoughts really helps.
But I couldn’t quite take myself at that point. Maybe because I don’t know how to write my constant thoughts in an organized way or do I REALLY NEED to write down my thoughts or I need other people’s company/ or emotional relationship with someone of my opposite gender to quiet down the current inside my brain.
I never really tried the later possibility as I am a very anti-social person. Nor do I have any “friends” whom I can hang out with freely.
Ultimately I’m seeking to organize my entire life. May it involve the help of other persons, physiatrist, emotional bonding, socializing or just journaling as I want, I don’t care which might help.
Other than journaling, the other methods are hardly executable for me.
The biggest thing that freed me to journal better is to cut all the bs rules I forced on myself. My only standard is to include the date everyday I write and try to add highlights to reflect on the day. Everything else is just random stream of consciousness tasks, thoughts, whatever. I also have a ton of random thoughts and I think that helps.
I tried keeping separate journals like you said but that’s too much form for me. Just throwing everything at one is best for me or I just won’t do it.
The best tip I have for organizing life is to keep a stupid easy non streak based habit tracker and a tasks list.