Seriously, start journaling

02 October, 2025

“We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospect.” - Anaïs Nin

You too should try journaling!

I started journaling in March 2025, on a whim, really. I saw a couple of reels about it and thought: “yeah! sounds like a great hobby for me" I bought the cheapest A6 notebook and used a pen that was the nearest to my hand. First, I started out with only prompt journaling (finding a question and answering it basically) But after a week, I switched to a mainly daily log + prompt hybrid. I have written almost about every single day to this point. Sure I skipped a few but that was when I was burnt out and I had no energy for anything. Even now I “skip” the days. I journal around 9pm, so not everyday I have the willpower to do so. I just write about the previous day on the next one. Sure, I can lose on the authenticity of a freshly experienced day, but it’s better than nothing ;] Also, do NOT expect yourself to journal every day like I do, it can get tedious and I felt the same way. If you don’t want to journal everyday don’t force yourself into it. You can try weekly or if that doesn’t float your boat, just skip it. Maybe you’ll come back maybe not. The beauty of journaling is that it has no rules, you put anything you want to be in there.

Benefits of journaling?

Journaling has actual benefits on the mind and body. It helps in managing common mental health conditions such as anxiety and depression,¹ offering a simple and fun way to process your emotions. Beyond mental health, research also suggests that journaling may reduce inflammation in the body.² (phew, that was nerdy)

Also, I just find it beautiful that you can open your journal on any day and recall it, live through the day again. Maybe to find inspiration, your past thoughts, how you were changing. I’ve forgotten so many days, so many little, beautiful, elusive moments. If you were journaling you too could find them again. Just imagine yourself 10 years from now. With a big stack of journals and on a sentimental autumn day. Wouldn’t it be fun to read through your past experiences?

Analog or digital?

Personally, I would never journal digitally, but that’s because I'm deep down a grandpa. I love the tactile aspect of doing things, while hating how everything seems to now require phones.

Writing digitally can be more convenient, easy to access, and it is free to start. You won’t have to worry about your handwriting, smearing the ink, or getting paper wet or dirty, and about hiding it from your parents or roommates. However, I’m personally concerned about the longevity of what I write. Let’s say you use an app and an upgrade wipes out all your entries. Sure, unlikely, but life taught me to think of every possibility, even if it sounds almost impossible :P

Remember to store your physical journals correctly!! Treat them like they are medicine! Hide them from sunlight exposure, humidity and filth, preferably in a separate cardboard box. Also if you’re an archive freak you can use archival ink!

Also if you want to get serious with journaling buy higher quality notebook. Don’t skimp money on it, because it can make your experience way more enjoyable.

How I journal?

As I said before, I do daily logs and every so often a prompt after the entry which is 2-3 lines on a bad day or 3+ pages on an awesome eventful one :D

Before each day I write: day of the week, today’s mood, weather, temperature, date\

| Thursday | 6/10 | ⛅️ | 01.05 |
| 24℃ |
| Journal’s entry | | Prompt |
| Answer |

Also, I used to write a song of the day, which i wrote after the entry, like so: ♪ Title - Author

My 1-10 mood scale is:
1 - Rock bottom
2 - Struggling
3 - Low
4 - Meh
5 - Neutral
6 - Slightly positive
7 - Good
8 - Very good
9 - Great
10 - Peak

What do I use?

Current notebook: Flying tiger A6 notebook with blank pages
Fountain pens: Lamy AL-star black (F) nib, Lamy safari yellow (F) nib
Inks: Iroshizuku take-sumi, ku-jaku

Code for calculating avg weekly mood

I also used to do weekly summaries of the most memorable moments and I calculated the average mood from the days. I wrote a program that calculates it, sure it’s a glorified calculator, but I just had to find a project to do.

print("Please type in your weekly mood scores (1-10)\n")


def get_mood_input(day):
    try:
        value = float(input(f"{day}: "))
        if value < 1 or value > 10:  # Ensure the value is between 1 and 10
            print("Error: Mood score must be between 1 and 10.")
            exit()
        return value
    except ValueError:
        print("Error: Given value is not a number.")
        exit()


# Get mood scores for each day
Monday = get_mood_input("Monday")
Tuesday = get_mood_input("Tuesday")
Wednesday = get_mood_input("Wednesday")
Thursday = get_mood_input("Thursday")
Friday = get_mood_input("Friday")
Saturday = get_mood_input("Saturday")
Sunday = get_mood_input("Sunday")

week_mood = [Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday]

average_mood = sum(week_mood) / len(week_mood)

print("Weekly average mood score:", round(average_mood, 1))

This entry was dedicated to Merle <3

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#2025