It’s a journal ecosystem! At least that’s the trending terminology on YouTube. Thousands of monthly and annual journal prep videos are available on YouTube, especially in the last year, as more people seek to sever themselves from society’s obsessive use of technology. It’s part of the analog lifestyle, simplifying technology to be more present in real life. And for some, it has the added bonus of unlearning habits and whitewashed histories that only benefit capitalism, white supremacy, and toxic patriarchal systems. Scrolling social media to receive updates on friends, family, and community turned into a competition for your, the consumer’s, attention through ads, ragebait, and short-form videos made to keep you on an app. For years, I felt uncomfortable about my time spent online, but not enough to change my desire to be everything, everywhere, all at once. Until I watched Diggin’ The Greats on YouTube.
Last year, the host of Diggin’ The Greats “dumbified” his phone and found ways to replace the multifunctional time-sucking device. I loved this experiment mostly because DTG is hosted by a parent with political views similar to mine. For full transparency: a lot of those analog lifestyle/ minimalist videos are right-wing pipeline videos with trad moms or some other version of excessive consumerism with mountains of washi tape, stickers, and 57 different brands of markers and paint that I’ll never completely use. Diggin The Greats explored simple replacements and how they fit into his life. He made minor adjustments as necessary, and to this day, still uses the same habits he picked up during the experiment. I was inspired.
Now, many of his lifestyle changes revolve around music, which is his passion. I needed to make changes to my lifestyle: writing and reading. In this particular area, I was further inspired by Ravynn Stringfield, a YA author, blogger, and one of the smartest people I’ll ever meet and befriend. We met in person in October 2025 at the Black Book Bash (now the Kinfolk Lit Fest) in Jacksonville, Florida. In every panel we attended together, we sat next to each other. I would watch her take out her yellow journal and a pen that seemed to glide on the page as she wrote notes about the conversations taking place. I sat in amazement. Like, this is what a writer does! They, we (?) process the moments!! It immediately made sense that writers could write and archive their thoughts! Please don’t judge this revelation. Remember, I’m unlearning a lot.
And so, my journal ecosystem was born. I started writing in 3 journals in November 2025. I didn’t think I would need as many books as I do, but alas, I find myself using all of them multiple times a week, if not every day. So here they are in all of their unaesthetic, imperfect glory:
my diary
I use this book every. single. day. I’m fairly new to this, but even in these early stages, I’ve found it very useful to write down my actual feelings. A good friend of mine asked me if I was ever given the space to say how I feel without being judged in my childhood, and I ugly cried because no, I was never able to do that as a child. And with the family issues that I’ve dealt with in the last few months, I’m finding it necessary to break the habit of not addressing my feelings. Writing in my diary allows me to figure out the difference between my feelingsand what other people want me to feel. Being able to discern the difference has been challenging as an adult, so this is where I do that behind-the-scenes, shadowwork to process everything I’ve gone through and who/what I want to be. One really cool habit that I have in my diary is that before I unload all the negativity and all the feelings I have, I have to start the entry with a piece of gratitude, just something to be grateful for in that moment.
my reading journal
Technically, I am using this whenever I finish reading or watching something. But the way I inhale literature, whether it’s comics, books, short stories, etc., I’m in this journal every day. It’s not perfect: this was a book gifted to me by a friend, and even though it was made for 2025 and doesn’t have all the fields I wish to document for my reading journey, I refuse to use a new journal at this time. It works for now, but I now know that my next book will have to be made custom…. By yours truly, of course. In this journal, I write my initial thoughts, ratings, and general details about the book that I don’t want to forget.
my art/junk journal
I use this journal whenever I feel like it. I can draw. I just don’t do it often, or it’ll be some random sketch somewhere that gets thrown away eventually. I’ve always struggled with perfection, and I fail miserably at maintaining that illusion. I need a physical project that forces me to unlearn this need to be perfect, and I want creativity and art to lead that charge. We need to make bad art, weird art. I want to make masterpieces that never see the light of day, or a 5-minute doodle that I lovingly shove down everyone’s throats. I just want to create, especially in a time when everything stifles the vibrancy of the human spirit. This journal was made in under 30 minutes. It looks like it was made in under 30 minutes. And I’m still super fucking proud of it.
my writing journal
This is one of the first books I made back in October, and it’s where I write all of my article ideation, interview questions, research papers, essays, and any other long-form writing I have online. I wish I could say I have structure in this book, but it’s just as chaotic as my mind. Some pages are fully fleshed-out essays and outlines, while other pages require the Rosetta Stone to translate. Outside of wanting to slow myself down and not write everything on a computer, I also want some evidence that my work is not from ChatGPT or some other LLM (Large Language Model). I made this notebook while experimenting with laminated covers, and while I’m not a fan of the laminated cover for travel, I do like the style.
Writing more is just one of the steps in my goals to divest from online spaces and technology and to get more in touch with myself and my feelings. What are you doing this year?
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