on journalling
I've been writing in a journal every day for about 2 years. Usually, I just write a few paragraphs at most. I used to use one of those cheap 5.5x3.5 field notes knockoffs, but I got tired of replacing them (and the paper quality isn't great), so now I use a Hobonichi Techo. Because I love spending $60 every year for a fancy notebook with 400ish pages.
I had a few goals when starting to write daily by hand. First, I wanted to improve my handwriting. Second, I thought that the act of writing with my hand would force me to slow down so that I had to reflect more about what I was writing. Third, I wanted a comforting ritual to look forward to at the end of the day.
How did it go? On the first point: my handwriting still sucks. I don't know how people on here can write such beautiful cursive. If anything, my handwriting is worse now than when I started. I have used up a couple of pens, though, which is always satisfying. On the second point: handwriting slows me down too much. I haven't yet developed the skills to sort through my thoughts in the time it takes to move the pen across the page. Some days it feels like a traffic jam of stuff I want to write down, and other days I have absolutely nothing. In both cases, I usually end up leaving too much unwritten. On the third point: that one was successful, kind of. Except when I forget to do it. Then it's miserable pulling myself out of bed to write down some obligatory garbage.
The reason I'm talking about this is because I'm now writing in this blog and my journal at the same time, but they must not overlap. I end up whining and complaining in my journal entries, and I don't want people reading that. So I guess it's time to try and think about some interesting topics like other decent blogs. Is that so hard???????