I keep running across the prompt “do you journal” on the blogosphere and Instagram. And I always answer along the lines of, “yeah, I journal! I’ve been journaling online on my blog for 18+ years!”
I actually did start this written journal on August 1 that a friend gave me for my birthday!
But is this really journaling?
It’s a sort of journaling. The censored sort where you write things you are fine with anyone reading.
But it’s not a journal in the sense that those prompts imply. Those prompts are often talking about journaling for self-help, self-discovery, self-fill in the blank. And that’s not what I’m doing pubicly here, even though I do spew random thoughts, all about me, 99% of the time.
All that to say, I’d like to journal a bit more. I’d like to write whatever comes to mind and not edit it, or think twice about publishing it.
So I plan to do that a bit more here, but make it private, so it’s only for me.
Why even share this plan since y’all will never see those posts? Just in case you wondered where the boring weekend recap went – I’m moving it to private (similar to what I did with the training recap). Those documentation posts are purely for me. I’ll share if I actually do something I deem “interesting,” like the airshow yesterday.
I’m looking forward to more stream of consciousness unedited writing!
I like the idea of private posts. It’s the best of both worlds – a public version of the blog for us and a private version just for you.
The more I think about it…yeah now that you mention it there are a few things that it would help me to write out that only need to be seen by me…so when you were asking why you were sharing that you’re doing private posts…I’m sure that I’m not the only one who will read this who thinks I might do this for myself.
It is the best of both worlds, and it’s still all in one place for me!
And I am honored reading this is making you think about doing the same! Also digitally?
Huh. I guess I just figure if I have a boring post, people can just ignore it. But maybe you’re right and I should stop posting things like my own monthly workout recaps. They don’t get much engagement. I do like the public accountability, though. Hmmm…I’m weighing the inconvenience of a boring post for my readers versus my need to have it out there for the world to see. Food for thought.
Definitely keep doing what works for you, especially if posting it makes you feel accountable! There’s more to this than the “boring” factor that I will share in email 😉
This is really interesting to me because I don’t really worry about if something will be interesting to my readers? HA. That makes me sound like a terrible person. But my blog is really just a space for me and having other people reading it is just a bonus. Then again, there are some things I’ve thought about bringing back (budget recaps, monthly reading recaps) but haven’t because I wasn’t interested in sharing them with other people. Could be a good outlet just for me. Hmm, food for thought!
That doesn’t make you sound terrible AT ALL! I just decided to make something that is not interesting to others and only to me, 100% only for me. And now I can be way more candid on it, which I enjoy!
You’ll have to let me know if you do that! I have published quite a few private blogs this week and it felt good to write things down for my eyes only.
Oh, man, I like the boring posts! (I do like reading about your weekends – you do so much!) That said, I also get keeping things private. You do you – share what you want to share, keep private what is just for you. We’ll still be here. 🙂
Aww thank you for the support! It’s been good to make them private and just do stream of consciousness.