How I journal with ADHD

Why journal and why I journal
What I put in each journal
My general journaling tips

Why journal and why I journal

I have been trying to keep journals on and off for years, oftentimes convinced this is the time it will finally fix my life. Oddly enough, my life hasn’t been fixed yet, but my attitude towards journaling and writing things down has changed somewhat. Journaling will not fix your life, but if it works for you, it can do a lot of heavy lifting.

Let me get this out the door, I do not bullet journal and I don’t think I would ever attempt to bullet journal ever again. You aren’t going to find bullet journaling advice here. I love the idea of bullet journaling, I cannot bullet journal. I have tried bullet journaling more times than I could tell you, and it never stuck. The only time it ever really stuck was when I was in a little journaling club in college and we would meet once a week at the library to show our journals. Even then, I only stuck with it for maybe a month and a half. I wish it worked for me, but it doesn’t and I have accepted that.

I mostly use journaling for three things, and I just happen to keep them in three separate journals. These journals comprise of:

My “control” journal where I keep important reference material
A gratitude journal where I write 3 things everyday that I am thankful for
An actual journal/diary. I usually write about things going on in my life, how I am feeling, but it has also become a big brain dump area.

Recently on youtube I saw a video that caught my eye. In the video Hayley mentions that ADHD people may not be able to make connections such as “x action will cause y consequence”. She calls this “active processing”, but I am not sure if there is one specific word to describe what she was talking about. I did a quick search and found some research papers and colleges talking about this concept, but calling it all different things. Either way, we probably know ADHD folks oftentimes need more time to think about what we want to say or write. I am struggling with it right now. I feel the sentences, but my mind fails to put them into words I can write. This can also block us from making connections about things going on in our life.

Journaling can help provide our brain a little bit of a bridge. Maybe I am feeling particularly down in the dumps, and I have been for several days in a row. I can’t name one specific thing that has me upset, but I know I am upset. Eventually I flip through my journal and read the past few days' entries. I notice I mention not getting enough sleep or having nightmares the past few days. I also notice nothing mentioning going out or talking to friends, so I must have been cooped up in the house for the past few days. Now that I am able to see what I have been up to the past few days I can start to make some connections of what I might be lacking and can change.

I also journal about heated conversations, social situations that were hard for me, random thoughts occupying my brain that are causing some level of distress, and the like. This has actually helped me not ruminate as long on things. I tend to ruminate because I want to find a solution. Sometimes there really isn’t always a solution, but getting my jumbled thoughts out on a page helps soothe my fussy brain. You ever feel heated, write a post, and then suddenly feel better even though you never actually posted it? Instead you just closed the app or saved it as a draft? Yeah we all have. Journaling is doing a similar thing here.

I also like journaling, because as a forgetful person, I do in fact forget. It is nice to flip back through my journal sometimes and remember. 2021 was a really awesome year for me, at least that is how I remember it, but rereading journal entries reminded me of the flow of life. There were plenty of days that I basically just wrote “today I let the mental illness win”. On the other hand, sometimes when I am in a long slump I need a reminder there were times when I was genuinely happy. I also have a mini photo printer and like to stick pictures of good days and fun things I find in my journal.

What I put in each journal

As I mentioned earlier, I keep 3 different journals. I am going to talk a little more in depth here about what I keep in each journal.

My “Control” Journal

This is my personal guide to life. If I think it is an important resource I might need again someday, it goes in here. It is a generic Travelers Notebook that has 3 notebooks inside. I am currently using two of the journals.
- One is dedicated to household notes. I have pages dedicated to each room of the house and common deep cleaning chores associated with that room. When writing my weekly chore lists I take this notebook to whatever room I am cleaning that week and go over my list and note what needs to be done or what can be skipped. Chores that only need to be done occasionally are in there too. I keep room to write down the dates these were last completed. I could do some of this in ToDoist, but for less frequently done tasks I prefer pen and paper. I keep notes of DIY cleaner mixes. There are some positive affirmations about removing morality from home care I wrote in there after reading “How to Keep House While Drowning”.
- The other is dedicated to personal care. I have notes reminding me how to take care of myself. This may sound silly to some, but I think other ADHDers will relate to forgetting how to take care of myself. There are lots of lists here. List of my safe foods, lists of my favorite ways to stim (this was me trying to remove shame from stimming :]), favorite self soothing exercises, lists with positive affirmations for a couple different trigger situations, and more. The most important thing in here is a flow chart I put together of what I can do to soothe myself during overwhelming situations or situations where I know something is wrong but I’m not sure what that wrong thing is.

Gratitude Journal

I debated a bit back and forth between putting this in its own journal vs just integrating it into my day to day journal. I decided to make this its own journal so that it is easy for me to flip through and reread entries. I guess I could have also dedicated a subsection of my journal to it, but too late lol.

There are tons of ways you can do gratitude journals. You can either do this at night before bed, or write about the day before first thing in the morning. I usually do mine in the morning, as it helps me set the tone for the day. I write about three things that happened that day that I am thankful for. This can be anything big or small. This isn’t intended to create “toxic positivity” or anything silly like that, I just think that even during rough times I can still find three good things that happened to me. A barista smiled at me, I have a warm bed to sleep in, the sun is out, I am alive. I have noticed as I am doing this, I do register and notice more positive things in my life. I don’t think it really is that more good things are happening. I think those things were always happening, but now I am noticing them.
I also make this a place I like to look at. I am not some fancy person who can do spreads or themes, but I slap stickers in there wherever there is some space. I love to collect stickers and it is fun to have a place where I can freely use them. I can go back to look at my favorite stickers or entries whenever I want.

And finally my journal journal

This is where I write about my day to day life, working out sticky thoughts, taping in pictures of something neat I did that day, whatever I feel like putting in there.
This journal is the one I use for the active processing mentioned earlier. I actually had been doing this for a bit without knowing what it was. Watching that video is what made me say “Oh, maybe that is why I like journaling so much lately!”. Before seeing the video, I have been working through a DBT workbook the past few months. Sometimes my entries end up extending into my notebook, which lead to me using some of the skillz I learned to reflect on situations I was actually journaling about.
Journaling chronologically about my life and writing about my day to day doings is also helping me get a better idea about the progress of time. Like most ADHDers, I am time blind. I feel startled when I look down at the clock and see how much time has passed since I started writing this blog entry. I also look at my calender and say “Where the did the month go– oh fuck I gotta go to the dentist next week”. I do not claim to be cured of my time blindness by any means, but I at least have something I can refer back on to get an idea of what happened and when.
Update Oct 18, 2024: I have been journaling a lot more since I have started therapy. I have been finding journaling to be one of the safest places for me to express my full array of emotions. Most days I set a timer for 15 minutes and just let myself write down anything that has been on my mind lately. It is often chaotic, but overall helpul. If you are looking for a little structure on how to do something like this, I recommend checking out Journal Speak.

My general journaling tips

KISS; keep it simple stupid. Fuck I hated hearing this in school, but I am going to say this applies to journaling so much. Do not look at “journal inspo”. Do not do it. Do not fall into that trap. If you are a perfectionist like me, you are going to spend more time comparing your work to others rather than actually using the item. I think this is why I couldn’t do bullet journaling. I was already tainted by the fancy spreads going in.

This isn’t me saying don’t use fancy spreads or systems if they work for you, but don’t feel locked into making your journal a certain way if it is just going to cause procrastination when you feel like you can’t do it perfectly. Your journal is a tool to serve you, you do not serve the journal.

Similarly, don’t feel obligated to journal the way I do or anyone else does. You can use ideas like mine for a launching pad, but then change it as you go along to better suit you and your interests. Slowly changing and modifying your systems over time can help keep enough interest to keep your brain engaged. When trying something new I like to give something about 2 weeks before I decide to do any changes with it (unless it is causing active harm ofc)

That being said, journaling doesn’t work for everyone and some people will never like journaling no matter what. That is okay and there is no shame in it. If you gave it a try and you hated it, well at least now you know that doesn’t work for you. In the video I linked above, she does mention some ways you can do active processing through other means than just journaling

Keep your journal(s) visible in the area that you will use them. I have a spot in my workspace for my journals, books that I am currently reading, and my pen + stickers. I do not put my journals “away”, I keep them where I will see them. I have decorated the covers with stickers. The shine of my stickers tends to catch my eye, and it adds something fun and exciting to look at when I grab my journals.
You are going to forget to write in your journal. It is going to happen. It is going to happen multiple times. It is fine, get back to it the second you think of it though! There are plenty of times I forget to journal for several days because my energy is being burned elsewhere and life is too distracting. I give myself the grace to say it is okay and get back to it.
In a similar ideal; I keep on my calendar a very important ritual; every Monday morning all is reset and all is forgiven. I have a specific list of things I need to do, and part of that includes allowing myself a reset on any self care or chore systems I have. Idc if I forgot to wash the floor last week, unless there is something causing a hazard, it can wait until my scheduled floor washing day this week. If I barely wrote in my journals last week, that is fine, this is a new week and I can have a fresh start.
Find an accountability buddy. During the same Monday ritual mentioned in my last tip, my gf and I also check in with each other about how our systems have been going. I also give space for us to share any fun journal reflections or changes we are making to our system if we want to share. We follow similar systems for tracking chores and self care, but have adapted them a little bit for your individual needs.
Some people will prefer their journals to be digital! I don’t work this way, but my gf does. Digital journals can offer a lot of customization and organization options that I wish it did work for me. My gf prefers it over pen and paper because it means she can do it anywhere at any time, and she is less likely to lose it.

And that about wraps it up!

TL;DR I am a big journal fan and think it is a big benefit to me as an ADHD person. Journaling allows me to reflect on things going on in my life so that I can make connections of events and emotions. It gives me space to reflect on accomplishments and failures. I can make notes to remind myself of what I can do to take care of myself, since my brain likes to forget when it experiences even the smallest amount of stress. I can reread old entries and remember the ebb and flow of life when emotions feel high.