November 29, 2024

I have used the Apple ecosystem (and recently web accessible) journaling app Day One for over a decade. Journaling is a practice I find very helpful in my day to day life. Day One allows me to look at my entries on this date in years past, and it’s interesting to see how much I’ve grown or not grown in some of my thought processes.

This past summer I started keeping a paper journal in tandem with my Day One journaling practice. My paper journal is focused on mental growth. I record interesting exerpts from my daily reading, thoughts I feel are outside of my “growth path”, etc. At the end of the month I go back and read all of my entries in this paper journal. I should probably write into my will that it is to be burned upon my death. I’m no Marcus Aurelius, but then again, I’ll be dead so what do I care what people think.

When I first read about the journaling practices of others, and how beneficial they found the analog approach to this activity, I was skeptical. However, seeing my thoughts in my own handwriting, versus typing it into Day One, has really contributed to living my life in a positive direction.

As an aside, I’ve also discovered that handwritten notes at work have improved my ability to remember things as well. There’s something about handwriting. It’s a shame the U.S. educational system is not as focused on efficient penmanship. There’s a lot to be said about muscle memory.