How Diaries Evolved from Lists to Personal Histories

>I'd like to know how others think about the hypothesis of the pandemic causing the next evolution? With the proliferation of habit trackers and productivity tools. What's begun is focusing less on the spiritual and more on actions.

I have also had thoughts about this. I do think that having time to themselves made some humans (and perhaps humanity as a whole) more reflective.

But also I dont think it's sustainable. Already, most offices have been pushing workers to return. We are sliding back into the old ways.

And people no longer have as much time to reflect, to be thoughtful.

>For my own journal I have chosen to capture more objective facts e.g. the actions in my day-to-day life. And place less effort on recording more subjective reactions like my mood.

I have some reservations about this.

Our moods and feelings tell us a lot about ourselves, things that we are not conscious of.

And writing about these subtle moods and feelings helps me be more conginizant of those things.

I wouldn't do it out of fear that someone else might find it and read it. Having been witness to the fallout of such an event, friendships were ruined, a relationship ended, and there was much emotional pain.

Some things are just best kept inside one's own head.

Agreed. Huge help for anxiety. The other side is to make sure no one reads it.

Or, to just state facts and not actually bring in emotional states.

Took up journaling late last year on Julia Cameron’s suggestion (“The Artist’s Way” prescribes for artists a daily, morning free writing exercise). It is a distinctly effective way to neutralize ruminating thoughts, pull apart confusing feelings, de-censor myself from myself; simply put, I have been able to raise my consciousness through journaling.