Falling out of love with journaling

I’ve written about journaling a lot on my blog. It’s something that I’ve really been interested in as of late. To reset, in 2023 I wanted to start doing more and more things to combat mental health for myself. I have never struggled with depression or any of the other things commonly associated with mental health issues.

That being said, I also know I’m not immune to these things. The more people I meet that are battling with these issues, the more I realize the reality that it can hit any one. So in 2023 I started doing some things to help with this for myself. And one of the main things I started doing was taking up journaling.

As I’ve documented in the past, I tried to do a paper journal and I love writing analog like that. The issue was I never felt like I was 100% honest. In the back of the mind, I remember the movies where someone finds the journal and spreads all the little dark secrets. I’m not saying that would happen but it was in my subconscious and I’m not sure I ever got into the raw, emotional issues that I needed to.

Apple came out with a Journaling app for the iPhone and I loved it. I immediately started using it and fell in love with it. The simplicity of the app was refreshing. It was like opening up a blank notebook and writing. It had suggestions you could use. These were little bits of information that your phone suggested you may want to journal about. Places you visited. Pictures you took. People you interacted with via phone or messages. You could take pictures for your journal or you could record voice memos. I used it every day

But then something happened. I started listening to everyone else. I read articles and watched YouTube videos explaining why the Journal App for the iPhone wasn’t good. These people that don’t know me convinced me that I needed to switch and put my eggs in Day One. (To be transparent here, I’ve had a Day One account for a long time and I really like this app as well).

A bit about Day One (in case you’re new to all of this). Day One has the ability to search, create multiple journals, show grid views, add tags, locations, amongst many other features. It really is a great app. Somewhere in the midst of my falling in love with Apple’s journal app and listening to all the noise about Day One, convinced myself to switch. I decided Apple’s app was no longer sufficient for me and my needs.

Something happened, though. I stopped falling in love with journaling. What brought me joy and excitement each and every day now became something that I sometimes do. It’s not something that I enjoy doing as much as I used to. That’s for sure. I’m not sure what it was about the Journal app. Perhaps it really is the simplicity of the app. But there is something that brought me joy when I used it. Something that made me want to journal. A lot of times it was a voice memo while walking. Or maybe it was voice-to-text. Either way, I enjoyed it.

Day One has so many bells and whistles and everyone are useful I’m sure. I am not sure I get the value out of all of it that others do. It’s not a knock on them or the app. It’s a personal preference. I love getting things done but I found that OmniFocus is way too robust for me and offers features that I will never use. Does that make it wrong? It makes it wrong for me. I have friends that use it all the time and love it. I think that’s what is happening with Day One for me. I think it’s like OmniFocus for me. It’s powerful and robust. I just think it may be wrong for me.

I think Apple will probably start adding features to the Journal app. The ability to search and possibly the ability to create more notebooks. But if they don’t, I think that’s ok. I think I’ve decided it’s perfect for me. I think it’s time to fall back in love with journaling and for me, that means a switch in apps.