Are Journals Cheaper Than Therapy? One of Us Has 7,000+ Pages to Prove It

Can a flimsy piece of paper and a pen solve all your problems? Sam's been journaling religiously for over a decade (morning pages, bullet journaling, EDC notebooks—he's got it ALL), while Ana-Marija writes in hers maybe twice a year before burning it out of embarrassment. We explore whether journaling is actually beneficial or just an expensive way to document your spiral. From Leonardo da Vinci's 7,000 surviving journal pages to our live gratitude exercise, we discover that maybe the real treasure was the "struggle archives" we made along the way. Plus: why serial killers shouldn't use journals for murder planning (looking at you, Amazon order history).

Key Takeaways:

• Sam journals so much that Ana-Marija wonders what inner chaos he's not sharing with her
• Journaling can help process emotions, improve self-awareness, and clear mental "garbage thoughts"
• Famous journal keepers include Da Vinci, Frida Kahlo, Anne Frank, and surprisingly, Oprah
• You don't need fancy notebooks—phone notes or email threads work too
• The "Struggle Archives" is now officially a thing we coined
• Live gratitude practice reveals Anna is grateful for butterflies and Sam's equipment setup skills

Tags: journaling, bullet-journaling, morning-pages, mental-health, gratitude-practice, EDC, wellness-habits, self-awareness, therapy-alternatives, mindfulness