30 Posts In 30 Days – Day 6: Journaling

This is Day 1 of the 30 Posts In 30 Days Challenge I set for myself to start writing online. This post was originally published on X.

Writing for myself has changed my life.

I’ve been keeping a journal for almost six years now. At first, I faced the same problem as everyone else: I didn’t know what to write about. And so I tried to keep things simple.

I sat down every morning, around 7 AM, and started writing about the past day.

I wrote down when I got up, how I felt, what I did throughout the day, and whatever else came to mind.

Simple.

I didn’t have to think about it at all (except for remembering what I was doing the day before).

But with time I started asking questions:

• What made me say or do so?
• What could I have done better?
• Why was I feeling a certain way?

That’s when I first started to see the true power of my new daily habit.

I tend to keep a lot of things for myself. And I’m overthinking most of them.

Throughout the day (and night) there are a lot of thoughts gathering up in my house.

Writing them down has a similar effect on me as having a very deep conversation with a person I connect with.

Except, I’m able to do it all on my own, in silence and solitude, first thing in the morning.

It clears my mind and it puts everything into perspective:

• Things that felt impossible before feel approachable.
• A bad conversation I had the day before feels less so.
• Most of my worries, won’t matter a year from now.

I am much more present and ready for the day ahead. Without the burden of mental baggage.