journaling (physically)

I've kept mostly quiet about this for a few months to ensure Habits Are Made but I've accidentally started a physical journal early this year and it has been the nicest experience possible. think I finally get why people journal, but the best part of this experience has been tweaking the structure to match the ... tempo? rhythm? of my mind and not get thrown off if I miss a few days.

it actually got started last yeah when I started tweaking and doing 'to-do' lists because my brain has had a horrible time about staying on top of non-work tasks. any place where there's oversight from somebody else and I'd feel ashamed about fucking up a boss' work, no problem, I'm on top of it. but outside of work tasks? months used to go by before doing one (1) mediocre task lol.

i explain the to-do list method ... here, but basically i started writing those directly in the spiral-bound journal itself every month on the right-hand side, almost to separate it by "chapters" of sorts.  then I started researching and making a list of what other people write in theirs and what I'd like to record in mine, which has ended up to be:

• insights that wouldn't be particularly useful to dreamwidth / are too private / IRL-y for here
• therapist musing stuff
• "staying in the moment" recordings of particularly fun days
• zine/project/comic ideas
• the very rare political commentary i don't care to have online (b/c i never know where mores are going to shift)
• list of books i've read in the year in the back (to replace the goodreads ~100 book challenge)

that's all on the right-hand "written" pages under a simple heading of 2022-(month)-(date), with a single line to separate it from the date above. (if there's any) on the left hand side tends to be ... therapy charts, FEH charts (lol), doodles, drawing notes/references to myself, cool compliments i'll print and tape on the inside, gift/comm artwork i'll also tape on the inside, tattoo ideas ... you get the idea. more scribble-scrabbly which gives it an extremely cool "texture" in terms of flipping through the past few months and seeing the scrapbook vibe.

the biggest key for me was having like, specific reasons to write in it, rather than just .... doot doot doot, dear diary, you know? reasons that kept me accountable on a monthly, daily, weekly basis, so even if i was empty-brains for three days, there's always something to bring me back. it also feels useful, because I'm in it striking things off at least once a day.

sharing in case if somebody was on the fence about journaling and/or wants to hear another take ~

think different.

i cannot believe i am crossposting something i found on fucking linkedin of all sites, i feel slimy-

(subs included. if the video doesn't work -probably on firefox-, here's the direct link: http://kradeelav.com/msc/stevejobs1997.mp4 )

but this, this is a whole (advertising) industry's worth of fluff extracted and rarefied to such a pristine diamond of timelessness. I occasionally like tracking down rare videos/autobiographies/etc of exceptional (mad?) individuals early in their prime to see if the "legend" has some truth to it or not, and honestly, I see why large chunks of the tech population still literally worship jobs to this day.

even if you watch it only on mute and just for his posture and gestures alone, it makes for a fun body-language study of somebody very deliberate, tightly contained, and laser focused to the point he could easily scorch others.