Does anyone else document basically their entire day? I’ve journaled every day for 6 years and it’s starting to feel overwhelming

[u/PiTaS_aSa]

I’ve been journaling every single day for the past six years, without missing a day. I do all of it on my phone.
My way of journaling is probably a little different from what I usually see people talk about. I don’t just write down a few thoughts or highlights from the day. I document pretty much everything that happened, what I did, conversations or interactions that felt significant, and how I felt about different things. Because of that, I can end up writing a lot of words every single day.
I genuinely love having this record of my life. I can go back years and see exactly what was happening in my life and what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I also like the idea that years from now, I can read about moments that I otherwise might have completely forgotten.
But lately I’ve realized that journaling has also become a source of stress for me.
It’s almost always somewhere in the back of my mind that I still “have to journal” at the end of the day. If I’m tired or don’t have enough time and don’t finish that day’s entry, the next day I feel stressed because now I have to catch up before I fall even further behind. Since my entries are so detailed, catching up can take quite a while.
At the same time, I find it really difficult to simply write less. I’ve kept this daily streak going for six years, so the idea of breaking it feels strangely uncomfortable. And when something meaningful happens, I feel like I have to document it properly. Otherwise, there’s this feeling that an important part of my life won’t exist in the record I’m creating.
So I’m stuck between really valuing what I’ve created and feeling burdened by the amount of effort it takes to maintain it.
Does anyone else journal like this, especially people who document their days in a lot of detail? Have you found a way to make it less time-consuming or mentally overwhelming without feeling like you’re losing parts of your life by writing less?

[u/Background-Cod-7035]

I used to, a long time ago, until I realized I was doing it out of anxiety—anxiety that I’d forget parts of my life, or anxiety about my life having a record in case I died, anxiety about losing bits of myself. Once I realized what I was doing I figured out that journaling my thoughts about life helped me work through issues a lot better than just writing down what had happened that day or what book I didn’t want to forget that I loved. Thirty years later it turns out I remember the important stuff and that it’s the act of writing that feeds me more than note-taking.

[u/Zarlinosuke]

I do, but I do it because it's fun for me. On days when I simply don't have the time or energy, I don't and that's OK. I'll get to a summary of some sort later on when I do have the energy. It sounds like in many ways your practice and mine are very similar, but I'd suggest thinking about ways to slightly reframe it so that it doesn't feel like something you "have to" do but rather something you want to do. But sometimes that requires putting it down for a while.

For example, there was one particular summer in my life where it started to feel like an unpleasant burden, so I mostly stopped. The result is that that summer is less closely documented than most of my others, but I picked it back up in not too long, and I'm OK! My world and my memories are OK. The fact that that summer is less well documented is, ultimately, part of its documentation.

[u/PiTaS_aSa → u/Zarlinosuke]

That last sentence weirdly makes so much sense. I never thought of it that way, thank you.

[u/Zarlinosuke → u/PiTaS_aSa]

You're welcome, I'm so glad if this was at all helpful!

[u/sprawn]

I have experienced similar tendencies. I have heard these tendencies at times called "Golden Handcuffs" or "The Success Trap". You can't walk away from past success. I've heard it called, "The Sunk Cost Fallacy". I've come this far, I might as well keep going. I've heard it called, "Streak Anxiety". You just want to keep the "streak" going. I've heard it called "The burden of consistency" when something that once brought you joy has degraded into a bureaucratic tick box.

In general, when preserving the record outweighs the original intention the way to relieve the burden… Is to break the chain. It feels like a "betrayal" somehow. But it is the only thing that will allow you to return to the original intent.

But there's GOOD NEWS. When setting out on new projects, I am aware of my tendency to create these metrics of consistency. So I don't aim for long streaks. I aim for a duration appropriate to what I am doing. And more importantly I create a system for compiling the data in advance. So I don't say, "I will see how long I can keep track of everything I eat." And then turn it into an extra task, and then mechanize it, and then do it for years. I keep in mind: Why was I keeping track of everything I ate? or WHY do I want to do this? And then I set a goal: 100 days. I will keep track of everything I eat for 100 days. And I will generate charts and graphs and examine the data. And I will declare exactly WHAT and HOW I will be tracking when I set out. And really... in this case, 100 days is too long. 30 days is enough.

At the end of 30 days I can examine the data, and determine if I want to continue, and if so, do I want to change anything? What I track? How I track it? What my goals are?

And after that, I will take a break too.

[u/aa599 → u/sprawn]

The trouble is, you don't know which of the things you record today will be interesting in 20 years, or to your great grandkids, or to archaeologists, or to the shouty beardy man on the beach who finds the head of the Statue of Liberty sticking out of the sand.

So if it's not too much effort to record, I record it just in case.

Wife & I record a lot, and encourage child to as well. It's also a (fun) project for us to fill in as many blanks as we can from pre-digital days.

[u/Pessoa_People → u/aa599]

can you elaborate on filling in the blanks from before the techy days? I've been wanting to do a couple journal entries of my past, as I've been finding old objects or pictures, and I'm curious as to how you're going about it

[u/zoanthropist → u/Pessoa_People]

Also curious! Like OP, I have mad anxiety around forgetting or missing out on the big chunks of my life (years here and there) where I don’t consistently journal. Have been considering going back to write down memories while I still have them, even if they are blurry. I am an obsessive photodocumenter when not journaling and keep a lot of old text records and calendar notes which I think could help.

Also no clue where to build this archive, since I have stuff scattered across physical journals, Google Docs, Notes, random loose leaf paper, voice recordings, texts, and online Instagram diaries…. Any recs are helpful!

[u/miraino_eve]

I document A LOT via a daily note I have on my phone. Throughout the day, when I push the action button on my iPhone, I note something that happened or that I’m feeling and it is timestamped in my note. When my phone connects to my car, I automatically get a timestamp of when I left and when I disconnect I get a timestamp and a location automatically added to the note. If I start a task, my shortcut not only adds it to my daily note but it starts a timer that I can see on my phone and it puts a calendar event in my iCal. I’ve been doing this for a year+ and honestly, it’s boring AF for me to read and I questioned what I was getting out of it. Recently though, I had been handwriting in a journal and that inspired me to try making a bullet journal to reflect on paper what I had captured digitally and so far, it’s been working out pretty well. I think mundane details are more for “in the moment” reflection and the meaningful nuggets are worth keeping in a different collection. Phone is good for capturing; paper is good for reflecting.

[u/organizedchaos_duh → u/miraino_eve]

So curious on what apps you’re using to do this- esp the daily note - are you using voice note?

[u/miraino_eve → u/organizedchaos_duh]

It’s just Apple Notes and a whole lot of Shortcuts. The shortcut tied to my action button asks what I want to note and then I type out or dictate the note in a text field that appears on the top of my phone and then it appends it to a note that has been created for the day(also with Apple Shortcuts) along with the timestamp. I occasionally add audio notes to the daily note in the timeline as well. I do my audio notes using my Apple Watch when I’m in the car especially when I have to vent about my day. It works well because there is transcription available. Honestly, I almost never read it except when I’m reflecting on my day at night. I do appreciate that it’s searchable though.

[u/evyevenly]

I try to offload it to creating events in calendars, so at least my calendar has a log of what happened.

And if it's significant, I journal about it, referencing the event.

And if I don't have time at the end of a day/ it's not so significant, I do a weekly review, where I look at events in my calendar and then do a summary for that week.

I think for me journalling is more about reflection and processing my thoughts and feelings about life, rather than a log.

I think perhaps defining your goal of why you journal could help you see/feel about journalling differently.

[u/ObsequiousFreehold]

I take brief notes to transpose into my memory keeper later. I have gone completely digital tho. My daily notes and domestic to do lists and most everything I am involved in are in an obsidian vault. For 10 years I hand made and created my memory keepers ( which WAS totally overwhelming) but switched to digital about 2 yrs ago. I find working digitally I can bring it with me where ever I go the possibilites are endless and there is every little cargo to deal with.

[u/Raevyxn]

The most prolific diarist on record (currently) is Robert William Shields, and he wrote similar to this, logging everything throughout his day. He wrote things like what time the mail came, what he had for lunch, and everything else throughout his day.

There’s no problem with this type of writing, but the words you used in your post make it sound like it might be a problem for you currently. You’re finding it difficult to write less, feeling burdened by the effort, you feel stressed when you don’t write, etc. It’s great to have a thing you’re passionate about, but this sounds like you may be veering toward an unhealthy relationship with your passion. 

What if you explored why you feel the need to write? Do you feel the need to document everything for future you, future generations, future researchers? Do you simply feel a compulsion to write? If it’s a compulsion that is making you feel badly when you don’t do it, you may need to actively retrain your brain’s relationship with writing. Look up how to stop compulsions, there are plenty of strategies online (and don’t worry about the “OCD” article titles, since you can have a compulsion without having OCD). And if it’s not a compulsion at all, then maybe identifying the WHY of your need to write will help you reframe things in a way that feels more balanced.

[u/organizedchaos_duh]

Yes. And track absolutely everything. Been doing it since I was 17 and I am now 41. I have periods where I’m hyperfocused and will spend sleepless nights figuring out the “most efficient” way to record everything and sometimes have 3 systems going at once and then other times I just will do the bare minimum but I’ve never allowed myself to skip a day. Honestly think it’s some type of OCD thinking or way to feel like I have some sort of control. Idk

[u/Puzzleheaded-Entry62]

The streak stopped serving you and became the thing you owe. A one-sentence minimum on the bad days keeps the record alive without the debt.

[u/Putrid-Conference409]

On the same boat, and I changed my mindset, and focus on things that matter only. Journaling or taking notes or thoughts is the easy part. Organizing becomes a tax, and going back to have closure on each you deem important is harder when it grows. You need to "define" what is important and put in that bucket - i think of it like my Gmail Inbox, and only read and reply to what matters.

[u/FocusedLenses]

I relate to this so much! I’ve actually been journaling pretty much every single day since 1999, which is when LiveJournal first came out. That was really where my love for documenting my life started. LiveJournal was such a great way for me to keep track of everything going on in my life... AND I mean everrryyything lol! I didn’t just write about what I did that day or whatever thoughts and feelings I was having. I wrote about movies I was watching, music I was listening to, video games I was playing, things I was excited about, conversations I had, and all kinds of random little things that probably seemed completely unimportant at the time. I even did voice notes!

Back then AOL chats were HUGE. I remember having so much fun doing Sailor Moon and other anime role plays and meeting friends through those chats. Sometimes we would end up having the absolute silliest conversations, and I would screenshot them and put them in my journal because I wanted to remember them. 😂 Looking back now, I’m really glad I did because those tiny, random moments are exactly the kind of things you forget as the years go by.

As LiveJournal slowly became less popular, I eventually shifted over to hardcover journals, and would sometimes do bullet journaling through Listography. I’ve continued journaling ever since.

So I completely understand what you mean when you say it feels like an important part of your life won’t exist in the record if you don’t write it down. That’s one of the things I love most about journaling. I love being able to go back to another time in my life and remember not only what was happening, but who I was at that point in my life. What I loved, what I was worried about, what I was watching, who I was talking to, what made me laugh, what music I couldn’t stop listening to... all those little details.

At the same time, after doing this for so many years, I think it’s important not to let something you love turn into something you dread doing. Your journal is supposed to hold your life, not take you away from living it. Some days are worth pages and pages, and other days might only need a few sentences. That doesn’t make those days any less documented or meaningful.

And honestly, sometimes the smallest entries become meaningful later anyway. Even something as simple as, “I was exhausted today, watched a movie, ate something good, and went to bed” can bring back an entire period of your life years later. During days I was too tired, I'd literally just do that or go on Listrography and make lists where Id write up to 5 simple things I did each day before sleeping, along with the date.

Like for a better example:

•08.25.26 1) Had a dream of a Tsunami 2) Binged watched The Boroughs with mom 3) Went for a long walk with my puppy. 4) Throat started aching after the walk 5) Missing my dad today.

•08.26.26 1) Woke up at 7:15 AM 2) Missing B even though I just talked to him 3) Finally finished season 3 of Attack on Titan. 4) Played I am Setsuna 5) Talked to grandma on the phone about Church and Dolly passing.

I know it may seem silly, but it really has helped me to even make lists like this as a journal entry when I didn't have as much time to write. It would even help somedays when I felt too tired or overwhelmed.

but yeah, there really is something special about being able to open something you wrote 10, 15, or even 20+ years ago and suddenly remember a version of yourself and a part of your life that you probably would have forgotten otherwise. That’s probably why I’ve never been able to give journaling up. ❤️

[u/efbakir-journal]

Record doesnt have to be equally detailed every day to remain meaningful

Id separate capture from preservation: jot one or two anchors during the day - then only expand the moments that still feel important later

[u/Fun-Radish5390]

24y here.

I document pretty much everything that happened, what I did, conversations or interactions that felt significant, and how I felt about different things. Because of that, I can end up writing a lot of words every single day.

jesus christ no. I would have gone insane.

Some days require this level of detail, but the vast majority do not.

[u/Embarrassed-Ad-3383]

Same here, quite detailed entries every day. My streak is around 8 years now.

Some days I actually write. Some I just take little notes throughout the day to remember some key moments, and later on, when I have time, I catch up and make actual entries out of those small notes. But it doesn't bring me as much anxiety, it's just a hobby.