this post was submitted on 23 Jan 2025
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Journaling Just Works

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The question doesn’t mean much if you're a digital journaler as you probably already have a synced copy available on your phone. But for the analog journalers out there this can mean mean the difference between having a journaling and having... lost our journal. Every single page of it.

There is no such thing as syncing and rarely any backup of our notebooks. So, carrying it everywhere we go is a real risk.

I don’t carry my journal with me because I know I will lose it. That's a scientific fact based on personal experiences (way too many of them) of losing a lot of things, from my keys and countless umbrellas, up to a brand new laptop (yeah, that's me, and would you believe it when I went back to get the laptop back it was not there anymore) as well as, you guessed it, my journal.

So, my journal stays at home.

What I do carry everywhere I go, outside as well as from one room to another in our apartment, is a pocket notebook of some sort and a pen where I quickly write stuff down. I don’t try to write great literature not even full sentences, it’s merely a few key words and symbols that have zero meaning to anyone but me and that work (wonders) as a reminder when I’m back at my desk and I write whatever I was thinking about when I jotted those down in that pocket notebook. And that small notebook, I don’t care much losing it.

For years, I used to get those free but real handy small notebooks with a tiny but decent ballpoint pen attached to it, from the pharmacy next street. It was their gift around New Year, knowing I quite enjoyed them, they would let me pick a bunch of them (not enough for a whole year but still, that was nice. This year, they gave me a... pencil pouch. It's an odd pharmacy, I suppose ;)

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[–] [email protected] 6 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

The one time I brought my journal with me to an event where I wanted to take some notes, my whole backpack was stolen, and I lost two years of writing.

Never again.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 5 hours ago

Yeah, I can understand that (really sorry it happened).

[–] SomeAmateur 5 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

My journal stays at home. I carry a pocket notebook at work but it's more for reference and to-do stuff than an actual journal so that doesn't count.

But I will bring it with me when I travel for more than a day or so. If I get a little time to myself in a hotel room it makes for good writing because I can talk about the stuff I've done or will do on that trip

[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 hours ago

But I will bring it with me when I travel for more than a day or so. If I get a little time to myself in a hotel room it makes for good writing because I can talk about the stuff I’ve done or will do on that trip

I don't even do that,what I will do is bring a new journal for the trip.

Also, something I do with my pocket notebook is to write down on the back of the cover, in French as well as in English: '20€ REWARD if found + email'. It's an email I use only for that purpose, not my personal email, and it saved my ass a couple times already.