Did you know that in addition to managing the BEST book subscription service around, your Friendly Neighborhood Bookseller is a journal enthusiast? Since 2014, I’ve been writing in a journal at least 2-4 times a week and it’s one of my favorite pastimes. There’s something about scribbling my thoughts, experiences, and revelations on the lined paper of whatever cute journal I bought recently with a blue ink pen that relaxes me, especially in an age where distractions and idleness are winning the war for our attention. And as someone who has designed journals for purchase at Shelves Bookstore, I want to share some of the reasons why I believe that journaling will outlast artificial intelligence (AI).
Your journal is a safe space
While it’s true that we can do and see a lot of cool things on the internet, I think we can all agree that the internet is not the safest place to share our most intimate thoughts, feelings, and experiences. I mean is it really wise to tell ChatGPT or your 12 YouTube subscribers that you’re thinking about getting a divorce? A journal on the other hand belongs to you not the world wide web and you can write whatever you want in it then put it somewhere safe from prying eyes until you’re ready to open it again. No one has to know what’s on the pages of your journal; not Mark Zuckerberg or Sam Altman just you and God. And in an era of data breaches and cyber security hackers, I’m sure privacy is something that we can all appreciate.
Journals can be customized to your liking
Unfortunately, we can’t customize every single web page that we frequent (which would be a nightmare!). Even most of our social media profiles have a fixed template and artificial intelligence (AI) has its limits too. Sure, AI learns from the information, questions, and inquiries that we feed it and I have no doubt that there’s some incredible AI software out there making people’s lives much easier. Still, I am fully persuaded that being able to customize a journal in a way that’s unique to you is top tier and can help improve your overall well-being. So, whether you prefer bullet journals, junk journals, photo journals, commonplace journals, or using a journal for freestyle writing, the possibilities of what you can do with a journal are endless!
Journals aren’t trying to persuade you to think a certain way
Artificial intelligence (AI) require programming. That’s right. A human being has to program your favorite AI software to do what it does when it does it. Thankfully, your journal isn’t software unless you use a digital journal. It’s a blank canvas meant to hold your secrets, your best ideas, your favorite memories or whatever else you think is important. For example, our Praying Is a Lifestyle journal is the perfect place to jot down what you discern despite what others might be trying to force you to believe and it’s available in 4 colors.
Journaling can help you process your feelings
While I do believe that Google Search Engine is one of mankind’s greatest inventions, I don’t rely on it to make sense of my thoughts & emotions. The same can’t be said for everyone though. I’ve read news reports about people using ChapGPT for therapy and let’s just say that results vary. However, I am a living testimony that putting your feelings on paper inside a journal can help you make sense of what you feel, why you feel that way, and clear your head so that you can hopefully move forward in peace. It’s also pretty cool to look through old journals to see how much you’ve grown without having to rely on a random Facebook Memories notification.
Clearly, journaling is a very important part of my lifestyle and I hope you will consider making it a part of yours too. By the way, our “Be Discerning Not Distracted” journal is currently on sale!
