A New Version of Journalling, Camille Kelem

For my final intervention I tried to write everynight before I went to bed. I tend to spend the night at 3 to 5 varying locations (I do overnight babysitting and house sitting) and I’ve managed to bring a small bag around with only the essentials, so the thought of carrying a non-essential notebook around seemed daunting. It was important to me to that I wrote on paper and not on an electronic source because I didn’t want to be distracted by things that pop up on my screens. I also turned my phone and computer off every night before I journaled, but I thought it would be ok to play music as long as it didn’t have words.

 

Day 1: This entry was letter to a friend where I got a lot of things off my chest. I haven’t given it to her yet, but I will give it to her when I see her after Thanksgiving break. Writing this brought up a lot of emotions, but after writing it I felt that everything that had been bothering me was lifted off my shoulders.

Day 2: I had a stressful day so by the time I got to bed I didn’t want to think about any of it. I think best when I make lists, so I made a list of all the people I would like to see in concert one day. This really calmed me down and I went to bed faster than I would have if I hadn’t made the list.

Day 3: I forgot. My sister came to town and I completely spaced.

Day 4: Instead of writing at night, I took my journal to MDO and made a list of other parks, places, and countries I would like to visit.

Day 5: Writing took too much thought after the long day I had had, so I listened to music and doodled on my page until I got tired. I tried to listen to calming music

Day 6: For some reason I ended the day in a horrible mood, so my entry was a brain dump of everything on my mind. Once all my problems were written out, I wasn’t overthinking them and it was easier to fall asleep.

Day 7: I made a list of everyone I was excited to see and everything I was excited to do when I went home the next day.

Day 8: The makeup day entry ended up taking place after Thanksgiving meal, so naturally I was full and barely able to write. The entry was short, only covering the events of the day and my favorite dishes from the feast (all of them).

 

Making daily journal entries turned out differently than I had expected. I was expecting lots of deep journal entries, exploring my thoughts and feelings and chasing them to their roots. Instead I ended up writing mostly lists and fun dreams. After each entry, I stopped overthinking whatever was going on from the day and noticed the positive effects that had on my sleep schedule. I want to continue journaling, but in the future I might try to bring it out on day trips more and maybe work up to a couple entries a day.

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