Those who journal, how do you do so authentically? (How to stop “self-editing” or “censoring” yourself and your thoughts?)

When I journal I largely do a stream of consciousness form of writing. I might have certain things I want to write about, but my head is constantly buzzing throughout the day so I might have something I was chewing on that I start writing about. I also have ADHD so it's easy for me to get side-tracked while writing, but I think it's kind of fun.

I think in your case, it might be worth while reflecting on why you are self-censoring. Do you have thoughts you're ashamed of - or are you worried about other people reading your journal and judging you for it? Or do you feel like your writing/thoughts just aren't that good? And you should also consider what you are trying to get out of journaling. Is this to practice your writing? Help you process your own thoughts? Have a record of what happened?

If it's the latter, then you should just journal whatever comes to mind. Writing, like any skill, only gets better with practice. I've written some real bad drafts both for my professional and creative work. But the draft can't get better without the words on the page, and I can't get better heuristics for writing if I don't do it regularly.

If it's the former, then you're going to have to find some personal solution to feeling OK putting your thoughts out there. Maybe that'll involve have a very secret hidden journal that no one is aware of. Maybe you can start sharing shallow, surface level thoughts and slowly work in deeper things. That is all up to you.

There's no right or wrong way to journal - think of it as a tool you use to help with some aspect of your life (which could be as simple as just stress relief). I think after you answer some of those questions above you should pick something that happened in your day and just write what comes to your head. It doesn't matter if it's good or if it's not clear - this is just for you to read.

One of the things that I notice is that any specific "want" from journaling is listed.

For me - my want was to just record a bit of each day, no matter how mundane; I just did this by writing down the Date, Time I started my entry, moon phase, current weather, forecast for the day, and then anything that comes up and out.

Sometimes all I write is "I don't feel like writing today" or "exceptionally tired this morning" or whatever.

This is for you, and why worry about what future you thinks? That's a future you problem.

So "The Artist's Way" was apparently written in 1992. I found it in 1990-something and it was a huge help to me in many ways. The most important thing I learned was a wonderful tool to accomplish exactly what you are seeking here.

That tool is simple, powerful, a little scary and so very pretty. Over the years I have recommended it to several people and it has worked for each and every one of them. I hope the same is true for you.

The tool is called “Morning Pages”.

So what are “Morning Pages”?

It is 3 pages, handwritten. Front of one page, back of it, then front of next. Done. This exercise is performed each morning, first thing after you wake up.

What do you write?

Whatever you like. You fill the pages up. Each morning. That’s the discipline, that’s the commitment. That’s it.

If you try this and you don’t know what to write start with:

“This guy on the internet said I should try this and who the hell knows maybe he’s an idiot why am I doing this nonsense…” and on and on and on.

Until you fill the pages and meet the discipline.

You won’t carry on like that for 3 pages, no one does. You may start like that.. I often do. Usually about halfway through page one the part of me that wants to talk to the rest of me takes over and controls the pen.

Your handwriting does not matter. Your grammar does not matter. Your sentence structure does not matter.

What matters is you do it every day and you fill the 3 pages and meet the discipline. That’s it.

You mention “self-censoring” and “self-editing, avoiding writing certain thoughts or feelings and just overall not being as authentic or honest or genuine as I should be”. None of that matters here. The pages do not matter. The act of writing them is all that is needed. When you are done with your pages burn them if you wish. Put them in the trash. Make paper airplanes and toss them out a window. Whatever you like. The doing is all that matters.

Why would you censor that?

Do it for a month like that and you won’t have to ask yourself if you should keep the pages going forward. You’ll tell yourself. You’ll write it down and make sure you know what you want to do. Maybe you don’t do it every day, eventually. Who knows? Well you will and you’ll tell yourself when you know. It really is this easy.

I do mine in a composition pad like this. It’s cheap. It fills the requirements and I can’t rip pages out without making the whole thing a sloppy mess. I like that. I also don’t write it on the weekends. That’s me. I’d suggest you make a commitment to every day for a month and then let yourself tell yourself what you need to do going forward.

Try it. Everyone I have suggested it to that has tried it has learned and grown from it. You will too, if you want too.

Best of luck!

Similar to other folks already commenting remember that the only person that reads this journal is you and you should be comfortable with yourself enough to be true, otherwise you might just have to start writing uncensored to get to the bottom of why you're censoring yourself haha

Ill actually go a step further and argue that you shouldnt even think that you'll go back and read what you wrote. That's what got me to back off, i realized that between my busy day and other responsibilities it may be 30 years before i get the opportunity to read my journal entries, and by that time ill probably have lost my journal. So if no one is reading it, who cares what ends up on the page? Its been a really helpful exercise to explore immediate thoughts on the spot. Writing out problems bouncing around in your brain frees them up from your head to let you reach deeper into that problem or focus on something new entirely.

I don't journal often, but when I do, I have a simple rule:

Write in pen, on paper. Write single sentence thoughts, independently of each other. I often start with a leading question like: "What has been bothering me?"

Then I see where it takes me.

I had this issue when writing notes for a while as well... All you have to do is remember that the only person who is ever going to read what you've written is a future version of you. When I do especially long notes or things for me to read in the future, they're so full of references and turns of phrase that are inherently familiar to myself, but that nobody who isn't me would understand in the slightest. So it's almost written in code.

It's a journal, the only person who needs to read it is you. Otherwise, it's a book.

I think you just have to do it, thought by thought, gradually opening up to your journal.

And I think the best way to be sure that you can write whatever you want is to ensure that you've got proper encryption/password protection so that no matter what happens to you (like dying or whatever), these things cannot be made public about you in the future.

When I write to write, I write quickly. There's no reason why you should be stopping to think. The words should be coming as quickly as your fingers can type because we all think more quickly than we type. If it's disjointed, so be it.

Once the words start flowing, I find I don't edit or filter myself, or think about repeated words, clumsy sentences, all sorts of editing. That can all be done later. Don't correct spelling. Don't correct grammar, just write.

Slow writers are those who cannot put a first draft on the page because they want to write a perfect final draft instantly. I can always go back to edit later, not sentence by sentence, but when I've put everything I need on the page first.

If time's a concern: Put down keywords in incomplete sentences so you can recreate your thoughts later if you want to engage with your own journaling. Some journals aren't meant to be read, not even by future you but are just about processing thoughts through the process of journaling. You can always delete stuff unread later.

Hmm. Honestly, I don't. I self-censor to the extent that there are certain things I want to highlight in my life, and journaling allows me to reinforce those things. "What do I want to remember about this day?" or "how am I feeling right now?".

Sometimes it ends up coming out as scribbles, doodles, or gibberish though. Such is life :)

There is nothing wrong in judging yourself or being self-critical, this is what moral instinct is and this is what led our journey (as a species) from Neanderthals to the present. Rather than judging about judging yourself, you just accept that judging yourself is a natural part of life and evolutionary process, it becomes easier once you do that.

I'd like to journal, but I can't see the stress of having an artifact that others could read, even accidentally, as being anything more than a constant thorn in my side. I'm being serious- how do folks who journal successfully deal with this?

I set a goal to write a stream of consciousness for 10 minutes, haha... So I type the time (10:50 pm) and just go for 10 minutes. Every time I look at the clock, I update the time on the page/in the document (10:51 pm). I don't think; I just type! When I hit 10 minutes, I stop, or sometimes I'm inspired to keep going, and I just keep updating the time as I go.

For some reason writing down the time (and having a minimum time to write) really helps me get flowing.