I haven't journaled in quite a while, so I tried to do it today while waiting for Nate to get washed (it's been a while since I last washed my own car). Not like I've got much written, since Nate was the only car at the carwash and all the five guys at the carwash devoted to him. Naturally I don't journal everyday, specially since I don't carry my journal around in my bag, but then, I really haven't journaled in a while. I was thinking about that and what really stops you from journaling, specially when you have an idea of what you'd like to journal about.
The thing is that journaling - I realized - is actually much easier than blogging, because you journal (usually) for yourself, and it's supposed to be a record of things that have passed in your life, recording your recent past for the further future, if you ever feel like revisiting it (I usually don't), while for blogging you actually need a sort of topic for posting. Well, sure, you could make a blog that functions as a journal (as I sort of have tried), but let's be honest, you never open up as much in a blog as you do in the close intimacy of your journal.
The other day I was watching videos about notebooks and journals (some people have the most curious concept of "journals". They call "journals" even notebooks I'd call "planners" or simply "notebooks"). As usual, I saw videos of people who had loads of active journals, and some really overwhelmed me. I remember this one woman who kept a journal of her relationship with her partner, which she planned to read in the future to her children. Yes, um... ok. She did keep journals of her other relationships as well. Some people do that.
I've read articles about the benefits of journaling (and I guess the same principles may apply to blogging, except the part of the benefits of handwriting compared to typing), and I can't really sign next to many of them, but one thing that's sure is that it does give you a fabulous time to set your thoughts and help you sort and organize your feelings as well. A journal is a great place to dump your anger or your sadness and even your success and your happiness. As you write it down you live it again or see it in a better light. Such a process shouldn't really happen before the eyes of the Big Anonymous Cyberspace.
Blogging - I would say - takes a different role for the writing-obsessed people. A blog is where your settled and processed thoughts go. You journal it first, work it over, and when you have distilled it to a clear thought you blog it. No, not all blogposts are backed by a journal entry nor all journal entries end in a blogpost, but I'd say that process pretty much remains. Yes, sometimes some distilled thoughts are too intimate, too personal to end up thrown at the Big Anonymous Cyberspace, and sometimes more spontaneous, raw thoughts and feelings also fall onto blogposts, but I would say that most blogposts and journal entries follow this rule almost instinctively. I don't know, perhaps because you feel safer with the journal, or the blog seems wider. Or at least, this is how it works for me. I wonder if it works the same for others.
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