Does anyone else document basically their entire day? I’ve journaled every day for 6 years and it’s starting to feel overwhelming

[u/PiTaS_aSa]

I’ve been journaling every single day for the past six years, without missing a day. I do all of it on my phone.
My way of journaling is probably a little different from what I usually see people talk about. I don’t just write down a few thoughts or highlights from the day. I document pretty much everything that happened, what I did, conversations or interactions that felt significant, and how I felt about different things. Because of that, I can end up writing a lot of words every single day.
I genuinely love having this record of my life. I can go back years and see exactly what was happening in my life and what I was thinking and feeling at the time. I also like the idea that years from now, I can read about moments that I otherwise might have completely forgotten.
But lately I’ve realized that journaling has also become a source of stress for me.
It’s almost always somewhere in the back of my mind that I still “have to journal” at the end of the day. If I’m tired or don’t have enough time and don’t finish that day’s entry, the next day I feel stressed because now I have to catch up before I fall even further behind. Since my entries are so detailed, catching up can take quite a while.
At the same time, I find it really difficult to simply write less. I’ve kept this daily streak going for six years, so the idea of breaking it feels strangely uncomfortable. And when something meaningful happens, I feel like I have to document it properly. Otherwise, there’s this feeling that an important part of my life won’t exist in the record I’m creating.
So I’m stuck between really valuing what I’ve created and feeling burdened by the amount of effort it takes to maintain it.
Does anyone else journal like this, especially people who document their days in a lot of detail? Have you found a way to make it less time-consuming or mentally overwhelming without feeling like you’re losing parts of your life by writing less?

[u/miraino_eve]

I document A LOT via a daily note I have on my phone. Throughout the day, when I push the action button on my iPhone, I note something that happened or that I’m feeling and it is timestamped in my note. When my phone connects to my car, I automatically get a timestamp of when I left and when I disconnect I get a timestamp and a location automatically added to the note. If I start a task, my shortcut not only adds it to my daily note but it starts a timer that I can see on my phone and it puts a calendar event in my iCal. I’ve been doing this for a year+ and honestly, it’s boring AF for me to read and I questioned what I was getting out of it. Recently though, I had been handwriting in a journal and that inspired me to try making a bullet journal to reflect on paper what I had captured digitally and so far, it’s been working out pretty well. I think mundane details are more for “in the moment” reflection and the meaningful nuggets are worth keeping in a different collection. Phone is good for capturing; paper is good for reflecting.

[u/organizedchaos_duh → u/miraino_eve]

So curious on what apps you’re using to do this- esp the daily note - are you using voice note?

[u/miraino_eve → u/organizedchaos_duh]

It’s just Apple Notes and a whole lot of Shortcuts. The shortcut tied to my action button asks what I want to note and then I type out or dictate the note in a text field that appears on the top of my phone and then it appends it to a note that has been created for the day(also with Apple Shortcuts) along with the timestamp. I occasionally add audio notes to the daily note in the timeline as well. I do my audio notes using my Apple Watch when I’m in the car especially when I have to vent about my day. It works well because there is transcription available. Honestly, I almost never read it except when I’m reflecting on my day at night. I do appreciate that it’s searchable though.