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I've been journaling since 2015, one text file per day and have not missed a single day. However, quite often the daily consists of the single word "Working.",
by sndwnm 3y ago
I've been journaling since 2015, one text file per day and have not missed a single day. However, quite often the daily consists of the single word "Working.", so the bar is not exactly high. I usually write about what I spent my day on, and impressions about the media I'm consuming. I also collect interesting quotes and links. The longest dailies occur when I try to analyze my direction in life, progress with personal projects, the frustrations of a day job, and such. I originally started journaling as a form of brainstorming to help writing fiction, but I since moved that content elsewhere because its format clashes with the rest of the journal.
I sometimes read old entries randomly, but rarely find it enjoyable. However, every New Year's Eve I skim through each daily from the previous year and make a list of "all the things I forgot I did this year", and the list always surprises me very pleasantly with lots of things I totally forgot about. Honestly this alone makes it worth journaling — I feel really bad about not being able to reliably recall things I did prior to 2015.
Looking at the entries from the earlier years, my writing has definitely improved a lot. I always write in English although it's not my native language. I also like to write on paper but it makes organizing the documents a pain.
To answer the question, yes it has improved my life and I don't plan on stopping journaling.