December 2025

Hello guys,

As you may have noticed, we've been invited to join the #FediWriMo Journaling January Event. I thought this could be of interest to quite a few of us around here ;)

So, let us know if you decide to join, or if not maybe why (I, for sure would love to but it probably be feasible for the moment).

I also took the opportunity to update the sidebar of the community (for those of you who can see it in their app), removing a community that has been closed and listing two interesting new ones:

• !NaNoWriMo2@feddit.online, that I just mentioned. and
• !pen_and_paper@lemmy.world, which is open to anything dedicated to, well, pen and paper... including journaling, obviously :)

I'm still not able to post much around here, and I apologize for that. Things should settle down somewhere in March.

We're still gaining a few new members—welcome to every one of you!

Don't be afraid to ask questions if you have any, or to share tips and tricks, or even nice pages from your journal!

'Pro' journaling tip:

I see a lot of beginners starting to journal with passion and with a lot of energy and then, for one reason or another, they’re not able to keep up with that energy level and they start journaling less, and less. Skipping a day here and there, then a week, then more… And then they give up entirely because they feel like it’s a failure. That’s a mistake. There is no failure in journaling.

I know very well how bad one can feel when not keeping their journal up to date (like, I’m not doing it right now and have not been doing for a few months) but I've also been journaling for well over 40 years. Oftentimes, I 'failed' at keeping my journal up to date and that’s no big deal. A pause in one’s journal entries can be another legit part of that journal.

To get back at it after such a pause, one thing I like to do is to summarize whatever I remember as quickly as possible, like in a few lines at most. I did this and that, this happened, and so on. Often, while I’m doing that, or when I read it back, this triggers more detailed memories, and events I did not remember at first. That’s when I start writing more like I would in my ‘normal’ journal, trying to be as detailed as I can, writing about my own thoughts and emotions too. I know those memories will never be perfect nor complete, but they’re not less interesting. Even less so when I read them a few years down the road.

It helps to be ok with not being perfect in our own journal. And it helps not just in regards to journaling ;)