Mikes Thoughts

journaling mornings

One of my all time favorite moments is the mornings. Before coffee and with Cambodia hinting at a sunrise. I find writing whatever then seems a perfect exercise in both seeing what a day might be and reflecting on the one that was. It has always seemed words come faster when the room is dark and I have that sense of moments to just let things be.

For a while I wanted to use an app for all the journaling. Like Day One or Everlog. I like both apps. I like the act of using them. I don’t like the knobs and dials. Everything I could want to fiddle with is there. Appearance change? Sure. Weather and location? Ok. Change mood? Yeah. So what’s the problem. Well it’s all the choices really. None of them make me write better or find a morning ready to go with words. They just create this reality that journaling somehow must have all the knobs and dials.

So what instead? Well, for me, basic markdown files one for each day works well. I have a nice apple shortcut which creates a new file for me each day as an automation on iOS. I just have this fire at a time before I think I will be up. I also have the shortcut on the Home Screen on my iPhone and I can just run it from there.

I think if I did not just write the most basic way I know, I would get trapped in levels of complexity. I would start wanting themes and plugins a la obsidian. Would want to link files or have dreams (nightmares) of creating a personal knowledge management system. I don’t have any knowledge to make into a system so it’s an exercise in frustration and futility to try. What I do best at is writing in the mornings.

morning to the markdown

So mornings come and I write. There is no preferred things. No journaling suggestions or prompts. I just go. Length and photos, bullets and lists. I’ll take all of what markdown offers me. Every so often I want something else so I try but it is this one step and done thing. I try an app which looks cool for journaling. It has wonderful reviews. Has so many knobs and then the dials for them. I end up disliking it when all I really want is to write words down. Words that start my day. That let me find my little place in Cambodia. My wife’s gone for tea and talk next door then. I sit propped up and write. Write. Write.

This continues into the morning and it always seems I get taken on a tangent somewhere. A thing I think about I feel like writing on. A feeling, an emotion, a thought. An over thought. All is there for me in the mornings.

I could do all this on an app for sure. I could easily write in Everlog or Apple Journal but the real thing is the enjoyment and fulfillment of it. I don’t need to be challenged with an app and its appearance and themes. I’m there for the words.iA Writer does just them and what else do I need?

Just a morning to write and some moments to find my pace. I carry forward the rest of the day and other things come up. I can sit on a curb and eat mango and have some strange thought come up. It is easy to just write it down. Some of this came from that exercise this morning.

in the end there is no end

Each of the day markdown files blends into the next. I probably have the same strange thoughts from that day to this. I just know I need to write both down. I try to never delete a thought or feeling even if it’s repeated a thousand times. I also don’t keep the old journals too often. I have read them and find nothing of value in a thing I said then. What’s important is what I am writing now.

And perhaps that’s where these journaling apps fail me the most. They are all focused on the appearance and fonts and weather and location and moods. Those things have nothing to do for me with the words I want to write. They just get in the way. I’ll probably continue to try things because I like to try the apps. Some like obsidian don’t last the day. Others I find some enjoyment and think I will try them awhile. It never lasts into the next morning.

Then I am back writing as I see fit. Writing down whatever it is. The main rule for this is there is no rule. No method to do this. There is me. There is iA Writer. Then the words and feelings and thoughts and ideas. Things I love and hate. Other things I touch briefly on like a moment of meditation and decide I’ll find it later. I hardly ever do.

Does it matter? No. Yes. Maybe. I just let it go anyways. Why have rules. Why worry if I write 749 words or 1900. Who is to judge the most personal of my worlds but me.

And all of that is journaling the mornings away. I think I will pick this up on Xmas Eve and tell you about how I transition from a morning writing to going for the coffee. Right now I have to get ready to go downtown for some beer. I feel that need.