What are you interested in? My teen started writing rap lyrics and ideas for video games, but didn’t even realize how quickly that turned into exploring his feelings and working out any issues he was having. It quickly became truly personal
I use mine as a way to keep track of events around me (no politics or earth shattering stuff, just daily & intimate stuff), things I want to be able to remember. And to help me put a semblance of order in my the mess I call my thoughts. Also as… a sketchbook which I find fun and relaxing to do even though I’m no artist.
My main suggestion would be to make it fun and exciting. The more it is, the more likely it will become a habit you will enjoy keeping.
Oh, I’m 50+ and I’ve been journaling for almost 50 years, if that makes any difference.
BTW, I very recently decided to try to ‘revitalize’ the !journaling@sh.itjust.works community. Here is two posts that may interest you: How do you actually start journaling? and How do you guys make short journal entries?
I hope you won’t mind that shameless plug but I thought it might interest you to know about that community. So, if you ever feel like joining and participating, do not hesitate. For the moment, people have been commenting below my posts, which is already a nice (and huge) change, but I would love to see more people posting new content. And if that’s something that worries you, there is no such thing as a stupid question ;)
For me diary is an emotional outlet to process emotions. So I usually write how do I feel and what caused it.
I also write medical anomalies that happen in my life that is highly likely that I will forget them.
e.g. runny nose from hay fever(?)
I am a person that dosn’t form habits so I write when It strikes me fancy and I don’t feel guilty that I don’t do it everyday.
Sometimes I write a really oustanding event that is a contender for my TOP 10 days of my life (I have seperate file in my digital diary for them)
I also have separate files for writing about a topic I am reaserching and thinking about.
Every quarter I also review last 3 months and set myself theme for the next three months.
