Journaling

This is something I typed through, so to say. It's written in a way I wouldn't write, but I thought I would respect it and not edit it.

Darkmoon/San...: I wanted to write how happy I am with this forum. But besides that, I had a question.
Could you write how you handle the journal? I would be interested to know. And I would like to know how you do that with alters. Are they writing separate messages, or is it all jumbled up? I am desperate to know this, as my host is having trouble accepting the diagnosis. And I don't know how to handle the journal too.
I think that's it. I could have accidentally changed something, because it wasn't very clear.

Basically, I am / we are interested in knowing how others do journaling. Are there alters having a different journal? Do you do it on paper or do you type? At which time of the day do you do it?

For me, I do it very infrequently because, honestly, I'm often too lazy to do it. I want to do it more often, though, but it's not my habit. I usually do it before going to sleep, but that time is very vulnerable to laziness I always did it on paper but lately thought about typing it out. I've done that a few times. It's faster and often easier for me but it doesn't have the feeling of a real (paper) journal.

(About the denial, I don't know what it has to do with journaling. Yes, I have problems with denial but it's not such an issue at the moment. #1 The diagnosis isn't formal (and it's not even DDNOS-1, so what is there to accept) and #2 I have already largely accepted there are others - otherwise I wouldn't write this. This is a separate topic. I'll make a new topic for it if it gets out of hand.)

Wed Jan 02
-------------------------
Geoff - 2:50pm
...Today was ok.

Jason - 4:30pm
...Today sucked


That's what my journal looks like. We type it out, because its fast and easy. It works out pretty well for us

Our journaling is sporadic at best! But we do it to the best of our abilities, usually we mainly do it when it's noisy inside or a lot of people what to say something at once or something like that. It's a lot easier to say "You have to wait you turn to write" than it is to say "You have to wait your turn to talk", because we can only share one hand (the body's right-handed, and despite others being left-handed, the body's not used to writing with the left hand so despite best efforts it's just easier to be/stay right-handed, at least for now), so it sorta helps force us to take turns.

Depending on how quickly we need to record stuff (like, if lots of alters have something to say, or if it's noisy inside, or if we just feel like we need to get something out of our system right now), we type it out and save it EVERYWHERE. We save copies like none other because we're so afraid of losing stuff we write. We save it to our Documents, we save copies on a USB if we can manage it, and we usually email stuff to ourselves so that it's saved in our email, too. And we type because we're much faster typers (at least, most of us are) than we are writers, and if needed older alters can always help younger alters type so that everyone's able to type just as fast/well as the next.

If we're writing notes to each other, or a couple alters have something to say, or someone just needs to vent, we usually tend to write. And we usually share one journal, but we have like, millions of them to choose from to share. It usually depends on which journal we can find first and which one we feel like writing in at the time. We try to date each entry, though, to help us keep things and timelines straight.
When we share a journal, depending on what's going on and what the topic is and who's out and such, it can either be clear messages/notes back and forth to each other, or it could be an entry from someone with a reply from another, or it could be jumbled mush that's rapidly changing handwriting, pen colors, and is full of quick switches. Usually, it's not jumbled to us, and we tend to retype out ones that are hard to read via handwriting so that we have a clearer, easier-to-read copy as well as the original writing.

Some alters do have their own journals, though. Luna got one for Christmas that's only her's. Shay has one that we sometimes share, but it's mainly just her's. With our own journals, though, usually the only one to write in it is the owner of the journal, unless the owner says otherwise. So, no one will write in Luna's journal unless she says it's ok or asks someone to read/reply to something, or something like that.

Another thing that's worked for us in the past instead of journals is tape recording, because talking is faster than writing or typing. We didn't do it much because switching and stuff wasn't as easy or smooth for us back then, but we have one or two cassette tapes still with different "entries" and such on them. What we would do is we'd get our cassette tape recorder and a blank tape whenever we had something we wanted to talk about, rant about, or just to record a conversation with ourselves even, and then we'd record whenever we wanted until the tape was used up, then we'd label it and store it in a safe place, and listen to it whenever we wanted. That could be an option to think about as well.


-Cassandra

Journaling is different for everyone so just try and see what you feel works best for you

We have a communications journal (where we just write notes) that is for both us and our SO so we can all write if something's on our mind, we want something or we just have a message for the next person out. Aicha though uses this as her personal diary too and because we have very little communication with her we prefer it that way because it's mostly our only window into how she is doing. She doesn't mind us reading and commenting on it, so it works just fine.

We also have a communications journal for just us in the system. This is very rarely used and has also become a diary for emma when she needs to write stuff down that she's thinking, that she doesn't want our SO or others to comment on (or if she doesn't want our SO reading it).

Eliesa has her own diary that none of us others look in.

We write when we feel like it really. There's no real rhyme to it. Sometimes we'll write many pages a day and other times there'll be weeks in between. It depends on how good our communication is between parts and how much there is to really talk about.

Best of luck

Oh, my journaling is so sad and unorganized right now lol. I have a paper journal I was using, but my husband got me a tablet for christmas so I've been using that the last two weeks. I downloaded a journaling app, and using that to journal is great so far.

I like the fact that I can start as many different password protected journals as I want and I don't have to have them laying all over the house for anyone to pick up and read without me knowing. I like this feature bc if any of the alters decide to make their own they're all free to do so. I also love that it's all kept digitally, and that my tablet is small and light enough for me to carry around the house and in my purse if I leave the house. Oh, and I really like that it has a calendar view so I can see each entry I've written on a particular day. Sometimes I write several times a day too, so I like being able to see each individual entry for each day and with a time stamp.

I also have another notebook app for handwriting, which I love. It's set up just like a regular journal notebook where the pages are continuous. I just write on it with a stylus like I would my regular paper journal. My handwriting is a bit more sloppy than it is on paper, but sometimes I really just need to write it all out. And all of these entries handwritten entries can be uploaded into my main journaling app too, if I can make the time to do it lol.

I write pretty sporadically, just when ever I feel I need or want to. I have a lazy issue too, but that was more bc I didn't feel like going to my bedroom to get my paper journal. My tablet is like my phone, it's always with me. It's much thinner and lighter than my paper journal, so it's easier to just carry around and I can write when ever I want.

I think the others write just as sporadic as I do. In my paper journal everything is mixed. In the app new entries can be started.

I did try to do a journal from my laptop...but yeah...again, too big and bulky to carry around and too lazy to go find it half the time. Plus, I really like handwriting sometimes. Typing all the time just didn't work for me. I couldn't keep up with it at all.

We pretty much just write one after another and when we feel the urge. I kinda wish I had my journal on the computer, as it would be easier, but my mom bought us two new journals with lovely covers so we're using those.

The only problem is most of us don't really have much of an interest to write in it. I'm hoping by forcing myself to do it, it'll get the others to.

I think I'll try to mix browsing this forum with journaling. I think it will work much better than trying to do it on paper before sleeping. Somehow, I always thought that was the way journals were kept - every evening a short while, on paper.
I keep a journal on my laptop now (password-protected ). I'm really paranoid with these things so recording on tape isn't really an option.

Others don't really come out so different journals aren't needed. I have to write it for them so I'll know it anyway. But I mark it when text belongs to another part (or 'voice').

(Eli - husband of Jennifer/system)

Jenn has 3-4 diarys and only writes in them from time to time. Lately they all write on Post Its to eachother. In fact just last hour i took a snapshot of our fridge.

One post it said "The Brownies were Amazing!" - Lucy and the one that followed was "Hope you feel better Lucy" - Amber. etc etc.


Now for me, Ive finally got a recorder and about 30 minutes a day on average I recount the past day or events. I want to have a record of the good, bad, and ugly. I forget VERY easily because there is so much going on. Recording this and then listening to it later on helps me remember the memories of this journey. I suggest any SO's to do this. I strongly suggest it.

Hello -

I love journaling - it's been a lifesaver for me. I have both digital and paper journals. Just know that I need to be writing often - it's part of my favorite way to process things. It's how I make sense of what's going on.

Not too long ago I burned a load of journals or rather someone in my system did (a protector?) who doesn't want my kids or anyone else finding what I write - My therapist didn't think it was necessary to burn the journal trail but it felt good not just to write volumes and volumes of crap throughout the years but also to dispose of it properly.

I like moleskine journals and fancy pens but also do notes on my computer. There is not much rhyme or reason to it. It's not organized at all. I like to write letters to my parts and last week one of the parts wrote to me! I think I would miss these little communication victories if I wasn't writing often!

My current paper journal is large- like an 8x10 in or so and it's great for drawing pictures or diagrams. I drew out a timeline noting significant events in my life. It's a two page spread with all sorts of notations about when events occurred and when parts first appeared. I discovered quite a bit about my system by drawing it all out. I also like to draw diagrams of interesting dreams and have discovered little bits of info about myself this way too.

Journaling has always been part of my therapy. I write things and read them out loud during therapy. This has been a very powerful tool for me.

Love this topic & reading about how you guys do journaling-

I also like to draw diagrams of interesting dreams and have discovered little bits of info about myself this way too.

Would you be comfortable to elaborate more on how you do this? If not just disregard

We have a dream journal (forgot to mention that before) but we've lost the habit a bit, which is a shame since that was our most powerful healing tool for a long time.