“Keep a journal,” they said.
“It’ll be great for your self-development,” they said.
And for a while, they were right.
I’ve kept journals off and on since the sixth grade (so… a LOT of years). I’ve got a box packed full of them — scribbled notebooks, fancy planners, you name it. I tried it all: Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages, bullet journaling, gratitude lists, daily recaps…
If there was a journaling trend, I was in.
It worked — or at least, I thought it did — because I wasn’t really looking for anything specific. I just liked writing and the occasional feeling of clarity or relief that came with it.
But then suddenly… it didn’t work anymore.
Worse than that: Journaling started to feel toxic.
So I quit… at least until I found a way that actually worked.