Discussion Diaries and journaling

[pellisetossium]

This is just a discussion thread because I'm very curious about other people's way of writing about themselves and collecting memories.

I've kept diaries since the age of 14 until now, so almost a decade. I suffer from CPTSD and fibromyalgia amongst other things, so not only do I have great gaps in my memory of my childhood and teen years, but I forget everything now unless I write it because I'm constantly in a brain-fog state. I also have a playlist per month, since music is one of my biggest interests and it helps me remember specific events and feelings.
I try to be as in-depth as I can when writing. My memory works in masses: I can group together extended periods of time, but I can't remember months/weeks/days by themselves. Even now, I can't remember the simplest things (appointments, dates, what I did two days ago). Also, having a sort of "ritual" around it helps with constancy. I have a favorite pen and a really nice notebook that I've used for the past two years.

Does anyone else has this habit? How do you write for yourself? I'll be reading your answers. Thank you! 🫈

 

[GodzillasBiggestFan]

i also like to journal though i am very inconsistent with it and usually don't write much. i really like the month playlist idea as well.

 

[pellisetossium]

i also like to journal though i am very inconsistent with it and usually don't write much. i really like the month playlist idea as well.

The playlist is very helpful. It's easier for me to associate periods of my life with songs or albums, so when I hear them I can recall events very clearly

 

[limenlux]

I don't journal, but I use a notation app called Obsidian to help organize and retain my thoughts. Amusingly, my biggest struggle in using an app to retain memories is continuously forgetting how to use all of its features. I sympathize with your brain fog and memory issues.

 

[GodzillasBiggestFan]

The playlist is very helpful. It's easier for me to associate periods of my life with songs or albums, so when I hear them I can recall events very clearly

i also like to connect music to stuff a lot so i think that idea is good. maybe i will try it.

 

[dragonofenvy]

I journal a lot. I wish I had done it sooner. I'm very forgetful of how my days go, or things that are causing me emotional duress, and journaling has helped me make sense of it and better articulate my thoughts for mental health professionals.

 

[Pluto]

 

[pellisetossium]

I don't journal, but I use a notation app called Obsidian to help organize and retain my thoughts. Amusingly, my biggest struggle in using an app to retain memories is continuously forgetting how to use all of its features. I sympathize with your brain fog and memory issues.

Ah I've heard about it as an alternative to Notion, but don't know much. I actually started journaling on my phone at first using an app called Daylio, and I still have the file of my past entries. I think I write more intentionally in a notebook, so I've stuck to that for the past years.

i also like to connect music to stuff a lot so i think that idea is good. maybe i will try it.

It's an amazing idea, I can't recommend it enough. Songs that you listen when you feel a certain way, recommendations, new things that come out or that you find online... Whenever a song stays with me, I put in in the list.

I journal a lot. I wish I had done it sooner. I'm very forgetful of how my days go, or things that are causing me emotional duress, and journaling has helped me make sense of it and better articulate my thoughts for mental health professionals.

Totally. I can't exist without a journal and a calendar. Asides from being forgetful, I'm the type of person that struggles with verbalizing hurt in person, so trying to write about it usually gets it out (or at least a little). It also helps a lot with retaining coherence when stringing my thoughts together, since brain fog also affects that!

 

[iguazo falls]

my brain spills into a few places. visual studio code i have a html file for dumping most of my neuroticism. obsidian for notes and saving snippets of texts or whatever i need. and then excel for a more consistent and objective view of my days. i used to journal physically but what woud happen is i'd write over what i had written anyways. i do keep a scrapbook for well scrapbooking that i find pretty interesting.

i used to have a hypergraphia/rumination issue that still kinda persists but not as bad. my issue is if you asked me without journal evidence what my day was like a day ago i couldnt tell you. its like my emotional/mental save states don't have access to the past ones.

 

[pellisetossium]

my brain spills into a few places. visual studio code i have a html file for dumping most of my neuroticism. obsidian for notes and saving snippets of texts or whatever i need. and then excel for a more consistent and objective view of my days. i used to journal physically but what woud happen is i'd write over what i had written anyways. i do keep a scrapbook for well scrapbooking that i find pretty interesting.

i used to have a hypergraphia/rumination issue that still kinda persists but not as bad. my issue is if you asked me without journal evidence what my day was like a day ago i couldnt tell you. its like my emotional/mental save states don't have access to the past ones.

First of all: I love Happy Together as well. It's my favorite WKW and one of the most important movies for me. It was a nice surprise to see your pfp and name.

Second: That's an nice ecosystem. It's nice to try and give each platform a purpose and try to express your many thoughts differently through all of them, and it's impressive to me that it's mostly digital. I've felt tempted to move back into an app or something like that, but I always end up dropping them and going back to a notebook. I have my main journal where I mostly vent my feelings, a smaller one with ideas for artistic projects, another with annotations of movies I watch and albums I listen to, and a regular notebook I use to track my chores, write to-do lists and list objectives/tasks of whatever I'm working on at the moment.

I relate to what you feel about not being able to remember events. In the case of talking about my life as if it were a game, I feel like I have only three saving slots and I have to rotate them every so often to not lose progress, but every save is so advanced from the last one that I feel set back whenever I reload the older ones. I hope that made sense.