As a Mormon I always felt like journaling was record keeping, so if I didn’t journal for a week or a month, I felt like I had to catch up and write everything that happened in my life since I last journaled. That anxiety made me put off journaling a lot- it became a vicious cycle. I want to start trying to look at journaling differently, so I appreciate your thoughts!
Another great video! As a Mormon I never wanted to journal because I felt like I wasn’t good enough, so I didn’t want my posterity to find that out. I’m going to give it a try again! Really enjoyed y’all’s latest Mormon Stories interview. Happy to be a new Patreon supporter!
i did journal some as a mormon, mainly for posterity reasons as you mentioned, but i stopped after both my parents and my sister looked through my journal.
your background is so lovely and cozy!!! lovely plant friends :’-) also i have tried to journal consistently for years but it wasn’t until these last few months that i find it helpful. something just kinda clicked??? i am still not journaling as much as i’d like but this video inspired me :)))))
This inspired me to start journaling again! I already had a notebook for my therapy homework but I didn’t really write anything else in it so I just started to journal on the opposite side of the notebook. Just writing down my thoughts for the past couple of days has cleared my head so much!
One of the only good things to come from me growing up as Mormon was journaling- it really helps sort all those feelings, especially when you are taught to suppress them and you have no one to vent them to
I feel like I’m a binge journaler. Honestly I do most stuff that way. I will do something super intensely (unsustainable) then burn myself out and then focus my attention 100% on something else vs a slow steady pace on multiple things. For some reason the idea of doing a bunch of activities for a few minutes every day seems like too much to keep track of. I would rather work out until I pass out once a week vs a 30 minute workout once a day.
Thank you so much for this. As someone whose anxiety is horrific right now, this is incredibly helpful and timely. I've been writing a lot more the last couple months, but not necessarily journaling. Thank you for the reminder. Also, this channel has been part of my healing so many times; it has helped me both in leaving religion and in putting myself back together afterwards. Thank you guys
I started journaling out of novelty as a child, I would see it in all the movies and so I wanted to replicate that. then I kept it up as a teenager after traumatic events and therapy. as an adult i haven't kept it up consistently, and two years ago I went through my journals (I had about 12 of them), ripped out particuarly memorable passages, or passages I wanted to be able to look back on and remember, put them all into one book, and threw the rest away. it was really freeing and at the time I thought that would give me permission to start fresh. I've started journaling in about 4 different books since then and never kept it up because I'm constantly moving back and fourth between family and my boyfriend's house. I need to get myself a pocket book of some description, to take the pressure off. This video was really helpful, thank you. I just finished a work placement experience for my uni program and just slept 5 hours haha, and having this video recommended to me and taking the challenge to spend my time and focus on it for its entire duration, was just what I needed I think. you're wonderful Sam.
So many good tips. I am inspired to get back into it. I am an ex-evangelical Christian who is so eager to get how I deconstruct my beliefs and put it on paper. Affirming new beliefs, reminding me of my truths, gratitude journaling, all of this I hope will be very helpful. Thanks.
Great video! I journaled the most during the last two years of being a mormon, DURING SACRAMENT MEETING. I had a lot of anxiety while sitting still and listening to neighbours talk about doctrine so I wrote in tiny notebooks that are precious to me even though there are a lot of cringy Mormon thoughts in them. Thanks for the reminder of how useful it is to organize thoughts on them and sort out the bullshit. (Your plants look great.)
I'm thankful to be in Australia 🙏🏼✨ I always felt somewhat uncomfortable with inauthentic journaling so I've not done a lot of it, in that way at least. I write, I write poetry and that is like air, food and water..it's the way I process life.
I've started journaling a lot more since covid. But I have not been journaling as much since this semester started. Thanks for the inspiration your content is always great! Also some feedback, it would be really nice for you to give us a synopsis at the end of your video. Especially one like this when you have so much good advice.
I journaled all the time while i was LDS and stopped doing it regularly. It's a habit I'm working to build up again because it is so useful for handling stress and evaluating progress. Thank you for this video. It helped my convictions.
i love this self-help stuff. Journaling got my through my faith crisis. it's the one place I can truly vent and work out my thoughts! I'd love to hear you folks talk about what philosophies you've explored that give your life meaning
I've been journaling regularly (a long entry every 1-2 weeks) on futureme.org for 2 years now. I send every entry 3 years into the future, so I'm not able to reread it or edit it in any way until I receive it. It's been a great experience for me, I love it!
I used to write in a journal super regularly back in high school and college, and I really enjoyed it! However, I fell out of the habit years ago. But you've convinced me to pick it up again! I just got a new little notebook, and I'm going to jump back in to journaling today!! Here we go!
I love the way you share your thoughts! You are so filled with compassion and kindness, and your insights into our culture and the way we interact with our feelings are spot on. I use the Journalspeak method for journaling, so oftentimes it ends up torn to shreds because it does touch on the deepest, darkest feelings and beliefs I have about myself. So there is a LOT of therapeutic value in writing them down and tearing them to shreds! I love doing it, even though it takes me a few days to recover from each session because it is INTENSE. If you are interested in the method, it's called Journalspeak by Nicole Sachs.
This is exactly what I needed today. I've journaled on and off for years, and I just started back up yesterday. Ive seen a little bit of improvement in my emotional health already, so things are looking up
I’ve been hoping you would upload thank you💙 these are really helpful reminders I really need to journal more. I was all the time while I was going through processing a lot of trauma, but I’m kind of processing it differently now. Maybe I should do gratitude journaling now and repetition and affirmation stuff. I love your videos and love listening to you and also Tanner. I try to be mindful about gratitude but I really need to write about it more. I have a journal from when I had a life coach and it’s totally full. I used two. A lot of the writings were “laments” idk if that’s a common term but I basically wrote whatever I needed to without censoring or judging myself. (Toward the people I was upset with who harmed me in my past etc) The Christian life coach told me at the end to ask for forgiveness from Jesus but I didn’t usually bc I felt I was just having my feelings and I was allowed to and Jesus definitely allowed me to. I appreciated her so much but some of that stuff still bothers me. I love writing about my dreams and trying to figure out what they mean in real life. I love my recurring dreams which I also write about sometimes. I also write down random statements that enter my thoughts that feel empowering. Like “I don’t owe my parents anything.” Or, “it was not my fault.” Things like that.
A couple years ago i started journaling quite regularly and then stopped when i started seeing a therapist. Now that i don't see my therapist anymore i wanted to pick it up again...thank you for this video, i hope it'll give me the right push to start again :)
I also started a weight loss journal and it is such a game changer. I lost 46 pounds a few years ago and this year I gained about 14 pounds during the pandemic. Stress, not watching my diet, and not exercising regularly led to my weight gain. I caught it early and a friend suggested to journal. It helps me realize exactly what I'm eating, how I feel about that, was it worth the calories (in the case of liquids or extras like desserts), did I exercise and what did I do and how did I feel. I track my weight daily so I can see if what I ate made me gain or lose. I also remind myself of my goals and rewards I'll give myself for certain weightloss achievements. So far I've lost 5 pounds in one month and I feel so empowered. I recommend to anyone whose trying to lose (or gain) weight.
Loved this, thank you 😊 I had to write a letter to my ex who is in rehab recently (it's a long story), and i had forgotten how concrete it feels to write your thoughts out on paper. I kept diaries on and off as a teenager, about half and half 'events of the day' and 'thoughts and feelings' but I stopped after my mum read my diary. This was when I was about 19 and in college so pretty messed up, but really not something I had thought about for a long time (I'm in my 30s). Maybe I should give it another shot. I think this video has come at just the right time for me, thanks Sam ❤
Lately I've come to the realization that there's a lot of my past I can't remember. I really want to distill who I am and where I'm at in my life into a record to look back on later. I know I've come really far in my own development as a person, but I can't remember the steps I took or what happened that changed me over time. I really want to commit to capturing these events so I can understand myself better.
As an example, I don't recall what my deconversion from Mormonism was like, nor do I remember how or why I moved left on the political spectrum. I want to keep track of these changes over time.
I started journaling again during COVID. It's so beneficial to have an outlet to manifest your energy unto rather than lash out on other people. Plus rereading some of my older entries are fucking hilarious.
I haven't journaled for a few months (guess I'm avoiding sitting with my feelings since my last breakup and move! 😅) so thanks for the different journaling ideas/suggestions, they sound like they might make the transition to journaling again a bit easier!
Every year on my birthday I write my future self a letter for 2 years into the future. Also, every decade I write for the decade ahead (at 20 I wrote to my 30 year old self) and every half decade (at 25 I also wrote to my 30 year old self) they make amazing birthday presents every year! I turned 30 this year (2022) and had a letter from myself at 20 (before meeting my husband) at 25 (after 3 years of marriage) and at 28 (after a year of motherhood) it was awesome!
I started filling in the blank spaces in my journal with chalk pastels while I meditate on what I'm going to write. Instead of seeing a journal as "I have to simply document this" I now see it as a beautiful, colorful mess, just like my brain.
I'm 36, 2.5 years out of Mormonism. Definitely felt the burden of journaling for an audience (posterity) when I was a member. Now my journals are written only for myself. (I intend to burn them all eventually... though I haven't actually done that yet 🤔) It's funny that that simple reframing of who I'm writing for has changed my relationship with journaling and the practice has gone from being sort of a burden to a wonderfully joyous part of my life. Sounds corny, but it's true. When I look through my journal now I just feel like it's more "me" than I've ever been.
I journaled as a fundamentalist Christian but it was very censored and surface level. I didn't write about my gender dysphoria or confusing feelings for my best friend or frustration with how my family enforced suffocating rules and restrictions. Instead I would mostly write about how I should read my Bible more, and how I hoped I could find a godly young man to marry, and how my relationship with God was going (basically a lot of shaming). My journaling from then was so much about what I thought I should be writing from a perfect Christian perspective. Since leaving I've slowly started journaling more and more, and wow it's so freeing to just write whatever I want to in a non-judgemental space. I don't have a set schedule, but I've journaled regularly all this year and it's been one of the best things I've done for myself
Journaling helped survive the cult that was mormonism in my life. It picked me up in my WORST! Even if it's bullet journaling, it lifts me and carries my brain luggage.
I love journaling, but I always forget to do it now that there are so many other ways to record my thoughts in the modern age. I have 3 blogs, so m journal tends to be full of the things I can't write anywhere else, which I fear doesn't give a good picture of my life for the future generation.
I've started journals before. I just would get too OCD (actual diagnosis) and take too much time detailing my ideas and experiences I couldn't keep it up as a routine more than a week because I needed time to do other things ! I'm faster dictating to my Notes app on my devices, though I know hand writing is better for the human spirit ...
I can’t afford to continue my therapy sessions but perhaps I can take some time to journal. Physically writing hurts now (since those muscles have long atrophied) but I perhaps will start a digital journal. Anyone here do something digital that works for them?
My Mormon journals were very shameful towards myself. I uses it as a confession journal I hopes I could become better. Turns out there's nothing wrong with me for thinking that guy is hot!
Yo, subscribe to my personal channel for more videos like this!
ua-cam.com/video/M9ZFibB5-jc/v-deo.html
As a Mormon I always felt like journaling was record keeping, so if I didn’t journal for a week or a month, I felt like I had to catch up and write everything that happened in my life since I last journaled. That anxiety made me put off journaling a lot- it became a vicious cycle. I want to start trying to look at journaling differently, so I appreciate your thoughts!
Sounds good, but how about "journaling" yourself out of the Mormon cult religion? That is more important.
I've been journaling almost obsessively since the start of lockdown, and I agree, I don't know how anyone's getting through this BS without it.
I've begun to crave journaling. It's helpful to me.
Another great video! As a Mormon I never wanted to journal because I felt like I wasn’t good enough, so I didn’t want my posterity to find that out. I’m going to give it a try again!
Really enjoyed y’all’s latest Mormon Stories interview. Happy to be a new Patreon supporter!
🥳💜
i did journal some as a mormon, mainly for posterity reasons as you mentioned, but i stopped after both my parents and my sister looked through my journal.
Ahhh so violating, I’m sorry!
You should've wrote in there "I knew you were gonna find this--You big snoops!!!"
your background is so lovely and cozy!!! lovely plant friends :’-) also i have tried to journal consistently for years but it wasn’t until these last few months that i find it helpful. something just kinda clicked??? i am still not journaling as much as i’d like but this video inspired me :)))))
This inspired me to start journaling again! I already had a notebook for my therapy homework but I didn’t really write anything else in it so I just started to journal on the opposite side of the notebook. Just writing down my thoughts for the past couple of days has cleared my head so much!
One of the only good things to come from me growing up as Mormon was journaling- it really helps sort all those feelings, especially when you are taught to suppress them and you have no one to vent them to
I feel like I’m a binge journaler. Honestly I do most stuff that way. I will do something super intensely (unsustainable) then burn myself out and then focus my attention 100% on something else vs a slow steady pace on multiple things. For some reason the idea of doing a bunch of activities for a few minutes every day seems like too much to keep track of. I would rather work out until I pass out once a week vs a 30 minute workout once a day.
Thank you so much for this. As someone whose anxiety is horrific right now, this is incredibly helpful and timely. I've been writing a lot more the last couple months, but not necessarily journaling. Thank you for the reminder. Also, this channel has been part of my healing so many times; it has helped me both in leaving religion and in putting myself back together afterwards. Thank you guys
Ahhhh that’s so nice to hear, thank you! 💜💜
I started journaling out of novelty as a child, I would see it in all the movies and so I wanted to replicate that. then I kept it up as a teenager after traumatic events and therapy. as an adult i haven't kept it up consistently, and two years ago I went through my journals (I had about 12 of them), ripped out particuarly memorable passages, or passages I wanted to be able to look back on and remember, put them all into one book, and threw the rest away. it was really freeing and at the time I thought that would give me permission to start fresh. I've started journaling in about 4 different books since then and never kept it up because I'm constantly moving back and fourth between family and my boyfriend's house. I need to get myself a pocket book of some description, to take the pressure off. This video was really helpful, thank you. I just finished a work placement experience for my uni program and just slept 5 hours haha, and having this video recommended to me and taking the challenge to spend my time and focus on it for its entire duration, was just what I needed I think. you're wonderful Sam.
So many good tips. I am inspired to get back into it. I am an ex-evangelical Christian who is so eager to get how I deconstruct my beliefs and put it on paper. Affirming new beliefs, reminding me of my truths, gratitude journaling, all of this I hope will be very helpful. Thanks.
Great video! I journaled the most during the last two years of being a mormon, DURING SACRAMENT MEETING. I had a lot of anxiety while sitting still and listening to neighbours talk about doctrine so I wrote in tiny notebooks that are precious to me even though there are a lot of cringy Mormon thoughts in them. Thanks for the reminder of how useful it is to organize thoughts on them and sort out the bullshit. (Your plants look great.)
Hehe thank you! 🌿
I'm thankful to be in Australia 🙏🏼✨
I always felt somewhat uncomfortable with inauthentic journaling so I've not done a lot of it, in that way at least. I write, I write poetry and that is like air, food and water..it's the way I process life.
Journaling is so helpful! The girl is cute!
Thank you! I love the "Future Me" journaling ideas.
Really helpful stuff. Lots to soak in.
I've started journaling a lot more since covid. But I have not been journaling as much since this semester started. Thanks for the inspiration your content is always great! Also some feedback, it would be really nice for you to give us a synopsis at the end of your video. Especially one like this when you have so much good advice.
I journaled all the time while i was LDS and stopped doing it regularly. It's a habit I'm working to build up again because it is so useful for handling stress and evaluating progress. Thank you for this video. It helped my convictions.
i love this self-help stuff. Journaling got my through my faith crisis. it's the one place I can truly vent and work out my thoughts! I'd love to hear you folks talk about what philosophies you've explored that give your life meaning
I loved this video 💕
I've been journaling regularly (a long entry every 1-2 weeks) on futureme.org for 2 years now. I send every entry 3 years into the future, so I'm not able to reread it or edit it in any way until I receive it. It's been a great experience for me, I love it!
Wow, that’s so cool!
ive been keeping journaks since i was 8. i also live in utah and was mormon. i love it.
I used to write in a journal super regularly back in high school and college, and I really enjoyed it! However, I fell out of the habit years ago.
But you've convinced me to pick it up again! I just got a new little notebook, and I'm going to jump back in to journaling today!! Here we go!
Wooooooooo
I love the way you share your thoughts! You are so filled with compassion and kindness, and your insights into our culture and the way we interact with our feelings are spot on.
I use the Journalspeak method for journaling, so oftentimes it ends up torn to shreds because it does touch on the deepest, darkest feelings and beliefs I have about myself. So there is a LOT of therapeutic value in writing them down and tearing them to shreds! I love doing it, even though it takes me a few days to recover from each session because it is INTENSE. If you are interested in the method, it's called Journalspeak by Nicole Sachs.
Ahh thank you for the kind words and the recommendation, I will definitely check it out! 💜💜💜
This is exactly what I needed today. I've journaled on and off for years, and I just started back up yesterday. Ive seen a little bit of improvement in my emotional health already, so things are looking up
Ahh yay! :)
I’ve been hoping you would upload thank you💙 these are really helpful reminders I really need to journal more. I was all the time while I was going through processing a lot of trauma, but I’m kind of processing it differently now. Maybe I should do gratitude journaling now and repetition and affirmation stuff. I love your videos and love listening to you and also Tanner. I try to be mindful about gratitude but I really need to write about it more.
I have a journal from when I had a life coach and it’s totally full. I used two. A lot of the writings were “laments” idk if that’s a common term but I basically wrote whatever I needed to without censoring or judging myself. (Toward the people I was upset with who harmed me in my past etc) The Christian life coach told me at the end to ask for forgiveness from Jesus but I didn’t usually bc I felt I was just having my feelings and I was allowed to and Jesus definitely allowed me to. I appreciated her so much but some of that stuff still bothers me. I love writing about my dreams and trying to figure out what they mean in real life. I love my recurring dreams which I also write about sometimes.
I also write down random statements that enter my thoughts that feel empowering. Like “I don’t owe my parents anything.” Or, “it was not my fault.” Things like that.
Yessss I love all of this!
A couple years ago i started journaling quite regularly and then stopped when i started seeing a therapist. Now that i don't see my therapist anymore i wanted to pick it up again...thank you for this video, i hope it'll give me the right push to start again :)
I also started a weight loss journal and it is such a game changer. I lost 46 pounds a few years ago and this year I gained about 14 pounds during the pandemic. Stress, not watching my diet, and not exercising regularly led to my weight gain. I caught it early and a friend suggested to journal. It helps me realize exactly what I'm eating, how I feel about that, was it worth the calories (in the case of liquids or extras like desserts), did I exercise and what did I do and how did I feel. I track my weight daily so I can see if what I ate made me gain or lose. I also remind myself of my goals and rewards I'll give myself for certain weightloss achievements.
So far I've lost 5 pounds in one month and I feel so empowered. I recommend to anyone whose trying to lose (or gain) weight.
Loved this, thank you 😊 I had to write a letter to my ex who is in rehab recently (it's a long story), and i had forgotten how concrete it feels to write your thoughts out on paper. I kept diaries on and off as a teenager, about half and half 'events of the day' and 'thoughts and feelings' but I stopped after my mum read my diary. This was when I was about 19 and in college so pretty messed up, but really not something I had thought about for a long time (I'm in my 30s). Maybe I should give it another shot. I think this video has come at just the right time for me, thanks Sam ❤
Beautiful!❤️. Thank you.
Lately I've come to the realization that there's a lot of my past I can't remember. I really want to distill who I am and where I'm at in my life into a record to look back on later.
I know I've come really far in my own development as a person, but I can't remember the steps I took or what happened that changed me over time. I really want to commit to capturing these events so I can understand myself better.
As an example, I don't recall what my deconversion from Mormonism was like, nor do I remember how or why I moved left on the political spectrum. I want to keep track of these changes over time.
Love this!
I started journaling again during COVID. It's so beneficial to have an outlet to manifest your energy unto rather than lash out on other people. Plus rereading some of my older entries are fucking hilarious.
I've been surviving via meditation and exercise. Journaling is next on the list.
I haven't journaled for a few months (guess I'm avoiding sitting with my feelings since my last breakup and move! 😅) so thanks for the different journaling ideas/suggestions, they sound like they might make the transition to journaling again a bit easier!
Every year on my birthday I write my future self a letter for 2 years into the future. Also, every decade I write for the decade ahead (at 20 I wrote to my 30 year old self) and every half decade (at 25 I also wrote to my 30 year old self) they make amazing birthday presents every year! I turned 30 this year (2022) and had a letter from myself at 20 (before meeting my husband) at 25 (after 3 years of marriage) and at 28 (after a year of motherhood) it was awesome!
Ahhh I love that! I’m turning 30 this weekend so that’s the perfect idea!!!!!
@@ZelphOntheShelf HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!
I started filling in the blank spaces in my journal with chalk pastels while I meditate on what I'm going to write. Instead of seeing a journal as "I have to simply document this" I now see it as a beautiful, colorful mess, just like my brain.
I'm 36, 2.5 years out of Mormonism. Definitely felt the burden of journaling for an audience (posterity) when I was a member. Now my journals are written only for myself. (I intend to burn them all eventually... though I haven't actually done that yet 🤔) It's funny that that simple reframing of who I'm writing for has changed my relationship with journaling and the practice has gone from being sort of a burden to a wonderfully joyous part of my life. Sounds corny, but it's true. When I look through my journal now I just feel like it's more "me" than I've ever been.
I love to write and journal but I have avoided it for years 🤦🏻♀️ Working with my life coach to uncover my issues with keeping commitments to myself.
Hell yeah!
I journaled as a fundamentalist Christian but it was very censored and surface level. I didn't write about my gender dysphoria or confusing feelings for my best friend or frustration with how my family enforced suffocating rules and restrictions. Instead I would mostly write about how I should read my Bible more, and how I hoped I could find a godly young man to marry, and how my relationship with God was going (basically a lot of shaming). My journaling from then was so much about what I thought I should be writing from a perfect Christian perspective.
Since leaving I've slowly started journaling more and more, and wow it's so freeing to just write whatever I want to in a non-judgemental space. I don't have a set schedule, but I've journaled regularly all this year and it's been one of the best things I've done for myself
Journaling helped survive the cult that was mormonism in my life. It picked me up in my WORST! Even if it's bullet journaling, it lifts me and carries my brain luggage.
I love journaling, but I always forget to do it now that there are so many other ways to record my thoughts in the modern age. I have 3 blogs, so m journal tends to be full of the things I can't write anywhere else, which I fear doesn't give a good picture of my life for the future generation.
#blessed by the spirit of contention🖤 love this
I'd really have to work on journaling through the day because by the end of the day I can't remember most of what happened
ALRIGHT alright
I'll journal! yeeesh you're too convincing not to
I've started journals before. I just would get too OCD (actual diagnosis) and take too much time detailing my ideas and experiences I couldn't keep it up as a routine more than a week because I needed time to do other things !
I'm faster dictating to my Notes app on my devices, though I know hand writing is better for the human spirit ...
I totally agree that our culture (north american/ western) doesnt sit with our emotions
I can’t afford to continue my therapy sessions but perhaps I can take some time to journal. Physically writing hurts now (since those muscles have long atrophied) but I perhaps will start a digital journal.
Anyone here do something digital that works for them?
I use a drawing journal.
My Mormon journals were very shameful towards myself. I uses it as a confession journal I hopes I could become better. Turns out there's nothing wrong with me for thinking that guy is hot!
WOW SO TRUE
So the Mormons got one thing right?!?! I remember them hitting the journaling thing hard.