Journaling Through
I joked (sort of) about hiding a journal on the gurney when I had surgery. Of course, I didn’t get to do that, but I did ask for it the first time I woke up. My husband patiently handed me a spiral notebook and a pen. I was reading those half-dozen pages last night.
They aren’t much.
In fact, I think I mostly journaled about what was going on in the moment, what the nurses said, how I felt about the unplanned overnight stay. I didn’t try much; I just put pen to paper and wrote whatever was on my mind.
What surprised me was the level of detail a barely coherent mind included. Was that really me, finally showing evidence of discipline or was it the drugs? My spouse tells me the details are mostly accurate. It is those details that give me the best information regarding my state of mind.
What would happen if we handed a journal to every troubled teen, every newly diagnosed cancer victim, every recently widowed adult? What if they wrote in a journal until they no longer felt a benefit (assuming they don’t enjoy the habit)? What would those journals reveal a month, six months, or year down the road?
I’m a tad more experienced than the average person who hasn’t written more than letters or a report since the last school term paper, so perhaps I see the potential through a rosy lens. But imagine what your thoughts and observations…and the things you noticed…might tell you about yourself?
No matter how many years I’m given to stand up for the practice, I’ll never have enough time to fully extol the benefits of regular journal writing, and not just for times of change or stress. Let me just say one more time that I can’t think of any better means of developing as a person than prayer and keeping a journal.
Isn’t Twitter a journal (of sorts) which teenagers are embracing? It’s incredibly detailed some of the time, given word limitations, so it seems likely to become a replacement for the traditional diary in certain cases.
Did any cool and useful drug-influenced strangeness make its’ way to the page, or were you conscious enough to try and maintain a solid form on your writing?
I’ve said many times that I could never write anything worth a damn when I was using drugs, so it is interesting that you managed to lay down accurate information.
Hello
i really enjoy reading our blog and am thrilled that you are a journaler. I agree that it is a discipline like any other discipline — establishing a routine is the only way to guarantee that you do it regularly.
All the best in The New Year and thanks for mentioning my blog on your blogroll.
Cheers,
Diana
Heartily agree with benefits of journaling. I work in the health service and run various groups and courses, including one which makes ue of refecltive writing and journal use. People who have struggled with years of pain, or who have not been able to think or speak about something for years, often seem to find using a journal a way in and a way to start to cope and make sense of things.
Personally, I wouldn’t find coping with life that easy without my journal. I find that wherever I go I have to have one with me. I ave a small pocket size one that I can take anywhere, sort of an emergency back up, a larger one by my bed for night time wafflings, and a various others for both creative and self refelctive writing. The main thing for me is that its always available, like a portable therapist and it always listens, even when I talk a lot of nonsense, which is frequently.