August 21, 2025 • 14 mins
A deep change in the way we live requires a deep change in the way that we think. This principle lies at the heart of today's episode addressing a thought-provoking listener question: what do we do with all those completed journals?
The question reveals a common barrier many face when trying to establish a journaling practice. Privacy concerns, clutter anxiety, and uncertainty about the value of keeping old writings can actually prevent us from picking up the pen in the first place. But addressing these barriers head-on is essential not just for journaling, but for any meaningful change we want to create in our lives.
Today we explore strategies for overcoming the barriers to writing AND creative ideas for managing the clutter and privacy of old journals.
If you struggle to journal on your own, check out our free monthly guided classes where we can write together.
Enjoy!
Learn more about Carla:
Website: https:/www.carlareeves.com/
Connect on LI: https://www.linkedin.com/in/reevescarla/
Connect on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@differentlythepodcast
Go to https://carlareeves.com/free-class to get The Class schedule, sign up, and/or pass it on to a friend. Each month is a new topic. Come hang out and learn with us for FREE!
Book a Complimentary Strategy Call with Carla: https://bookme.name/carlareeves/strategycall
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
A deep change in the way that we live requires a deep
change in the way that we think.
I'm Carla Reeves, and this isDifferently.
Happy Thursday.
I'm so glad that you've decidedto listen today.
I want to share with you aquestion I received from a
(00:20):
listener and that's what we'regoing to do today.
I love hearing from you.
So if you don't know that,there is a button when you're
clicked on the actual episode,it says there's a little button
that says send Carla a message.
I would love to hear from yousend me your questions, that you
(00:43):
have ideas, if there'ssomething you'd love to hear me
talk about.
Maybe you have a comment to anepisode.
Any and all of it is so goodand makes me so very happy.
So the question that I'vereceived is this.
It said Hi, carla, I've dabbledwith journaling on and off for
the last 10 years, but I haven'tdone it for a while.
(01:07):
One thing that stops me is whatdo I do with all those completed
journals?
Are they useful to keep andread later?
I'm trying to get rid ofclutter.
If I don't keep them, I'll havea stack of shredding to do,
because I'm not just going toput those in the recycling bin
with all that personalinformation?
What do people do with usedjournals?
(01:30):
So our short episode today isgoing to address that very
question what do we do with oldjournals and how can we address
the barriers like this that showup for all of us, that keep us
from doing something thatliterally has potential to
change our life in the very bestway?
(01:52):
So if you want to create ajournaling rhythm in your life,
which is it's so often I hearfrom people like I've dabbled in
journaling all these years or Ineed to get back to it or shoot
, I've forgotten and I haven'tjournaled in a while, and I know
how helpful it is.
I hear these things a lot.
We have to be willing toaddress the things that get in
(02:16):
the way, the little and bigthings that come in the way, the
reasons, the thoughts, theexcuses, the wondering like well
, what do I do with them and howdo I maintain that personal
information without somebodyfinding it?
And on and on and on.
This principle of addressing thebarriers is so important and
(02:40):
true for all change.
It's a principle that threadsthrough everything we do here at
the differently company,because so often we just try to
do the thing.
You know we want to journal andwe want to reach our goal, but
if we don't address the thingsthat are getting in the way,
they're going to keep popping up.
(03:01):
So first, high five to you forthe journaling you've done so
far.
The fact that you've dabbled injournaling tells me that
there's an interest here andthat there's something in it for
you.
It also makes me curious, and Ijust want to put this question
(03:21):
out to you is what, what else,keeps you from going all in?
Is there anything else?
Because if we can address thesebarriers, then all you have
left is your desire to write andthe rewards that await you.
I think it's important to have apurpose for your writing.
(03:42):
Having a vision for yourjournaling really helps cut
through all the noise and thestops that we feel, because if
we're doing something for apurpose, we'll make sacrifices,
we'll prioritize it and we'remore apt to show up.
Without a purpose, it feelslike another thing on our to-do
(04:03):
list or can just feel likedrudgery.
When I was a new mom is when Istarted journaling and I felt
God tell me to start writing.
My purpose for writing was tofigure out how to be a happy mom
, because I felt like that wouldbe one of the greatest gifts I
could give my children.
That's why I showed up to dothe writing.
(04:29):
It wasn't because I wanted towrite or I wanted to journal.
I wanted to be a better mom.
And so what is your purpose?
What is your purpose forwriting?
And if you don't know, startasking like what could it be?
Like, what would have you showup to do the hard part, which is
showing up in writing?
So when you're grapplingbetween your desire to journal
(04:54):
and fears about cluttering orprivacy, having this clear
mission is going to help youmake a system that works.
My early journaling mission wassimple to be a better mom.
That purpose was bigger than myfears of someone finding my
(05:14):
journals or the inconvenience ofwhere was I going to store them
or how was I going to deal withclutter.
The purpose was big enough thatI figured out how to manage the
other things, and you're goingto be able to do that too what
to do with old journals.
I want to just kind of stiryour thinking on some of this,
and these are simple, butremember there's no right answer
(05:38):
.
I want you to look for whatmakes sense for you and your
life and your commitments tohaving a clutter-free
environment and so on and soforth.
Here's some ideas of whatpeople do with old journals.
One you can keep them.
You could store them in boxesand label them by year and keep
them in a closet or in yourgarage or under your bed.
(06:00):
I was doing that for a lot ofyears and it just got
overwhelming and there were toomany.
And I started for a lot ofyears and it just got
overwhelming and there were toomany and I started to feel
afraid of, like you know, whatwere my kids gonna find later?
Or do I want my kids to read myjournals?
Like that's something I had toreally think about, and do I
want to keep all of them?
Because I I have boys.
I don't think they're reallygoing to care about my journals,
(06:21):
honestly, and I don't know thatanybody will.
But I also couldn't get rid ofall of them.
So I went through all of thosejournals a lot of years ago and
we had a bonfire in the backyardone night and we I just threw a
lot of them in there andreleased them and got rid of
(06:43):
them, and that felt really good.
And the way that I went throughthem, I just kind of picked
each one of them up and kind offlipped my fingers through it to
see what season of life wasthis and is this important?
Do I want to keep it?
And just kind of trusted myselfto know and if I didn't know or
I didn't feel like I could getrid of it, I kept it.
(07:05):
And then I did that.
I've done that probably threetimes in the last 20 years just
pared down and pared down andgot rid of more, and I would say
I have a you know a good stackof them now that I have held on
to because they meant somethingto me.
Another thing you could do isyou could digitize some of them.
If you wanted to take photos ofmaybe there's important pages,
(07:31):
but you don't need the wholething.
You could digitize some of that.
You could also digitize yourjournaling, in the sense that
you could start doing morewriting online instead of in a
paper notebook.
I do a blend of both.
They both fill a different need.
Like in the morning, during mymorning routine, I like writing
in a paper journal, but duringthe day or at night, I often
(07:54):
journal online.
So you could do a little bit ofboth to cut down on some of
that paper clutter.
We talked about selectivelykeeping things that are
meaningful.
We talked about releasing themor letting them go or shredding
or burning them.
Whatever feels right to you.
You could definitely shred them.
If privacy is a concern, youcan shred them.
(08:16):
The most important thing isthat you do whatever you need to
do so that you can write andcontinue writing and use this as
a tool in your life, because ifyou're worried about people
finding them and you just holdon to that and then you never do
it because you're afraid, thefear is running you.
(08:37):
So address the fear, handle itin the way you need to so that
you can keep writing, becausethis is going to benefit your
life in ways that you can't evenimagine if you start to do this
with a little more consistency.
And then I just want to talk fora minute about keeping old
journals.
Journals are a record of ourlife and our journey and our
growth.
(08:57):
Sometimes reading back can helpyou see how far you've come, or
see a pattern in your life thatyou're still grappling with.
Both are normal and good.
For me, mostly my journal is aprocessing tool more so than a
log of my life, and so I don'toften need to go back and look
(09:19):
at those journals.
I've been journalingconsistently since 1999, and I
have probably 20 journals overthat period of time.
Different seasons call for moreor less writing.
Remember that.
So some days you might write apage and other days it might
just be a sentence or a list.
And rereading over time just toreiterate it can support
(09:44):
reflection, it can support goalsetting, it might spark
inspiration for you.
When I look through oldjournals, I often discover
forgotten insights or ideasworth revisiting.
When to let your journals go,it's completely understandable
to not want clutter.
I don't want clutter in my lifeeither, and so you might
(10:06):
consider letting journals go,especially when you've already
gotten the lessons they're likeweaved into your life and you've
gotten what you needed fromthem.
Maybe holding on to those, thatold journal, that old energy
that's in that journal, doesn'tserve your growth and you just
feel like it would be better torelease that and let that go.
(10:27):
That's beautiful.
Do that, and then, if the spacethey take creates more stress
than a benefit, that's a greatindicator that it's time to
figure out a way to remove themfrom your life.
Get rid of them.
Trust that.
You'll know, and again.
There's no right way to do this.
A couple other creative ideas isI know a lot of times I'll fill
(10:50):
all like half fill a journaland then there's kind of wasted
pages in there and I hear peoplesay that all the time.
Or maybe they started thejournal at the beginning of the
year and wrote a few pages andthen they haven't done anything
and it feels weird to go back.
Give up the weirdness.
And if you want to use the restof those pages, I often will
pick up an old journal and I'lljust date it where I am and
(11:12):
finish it.
You could always label them ifyou need to.
I don't do that, but if youneed to label them so that you
can go back and reference them,do that.
I don't do that, but if youneed to label them so that you
can go back and reference them,do that.
My favorite idea is to mine oldjournals for creative ideas or
content.
If you have a business.
I do this a lot I will actuallyuse a piece of my journal entry
(11:34):
to inspire an email or apodcast, so that can be fun too.
If you're still listening atlistening at this point I have a
challenge for you becauseyou're, at a minimum, curious
about what journaling can do inyour life.
So here's my challenge I wantyou to just sit down for five
minutes and write down all thereasons or things that get in
(11:56):
your way of writing moreconsistently.
I want you to then go througheach one and just challenge each
one honestly.
Is this real?
Is it something you'vefabricated to just delay the
process of actually doing thewriting?
Is it something you can addressand just manage and handle and
(12:17):
remove that from your list andthen ask yourself look look at
what's left, and I want you tosend me a message.
Hit that send Carla messagebutton and tell me what's left
for you after you manage andaddress the reasons and things
that get in your way.
My own barriers include, youknow, when I bump up against not
(12:39):
sitting down to write, are notknowing what to write, maybe not
having the time, or feelinglike I don't have the time,
feeling like I might just writeand write and write and there's
no point and it's a waste oftime.
Maybe I feel some discomfort tolike go into those feelings
around that thing I'm navigating.
Sometimes that's hard, but it'sthe very thing I need, and then
(13:03):
there's always distractionsright that are pulling me away
to do something else, but when Ichallenge these excuses, what
remains is simple God called meto write all those years ago.
I don't have to know why I'mwriting.
The practice is the magic and Ialways have time when I make
(13:25):
time.
So, in closing, thank you somuch for your message, listener.
This sparked so many ideas andI know it's going to be a
message that others need to hear, and I thank you so much for
igniting excitement for this.
Send me a message feature.
It would make me so happy tohear from you, my listener, on a
(13:50):
regular basis or a little moreoften.
So do it today.
Go hit that button and send mea message, an idea, a question,
maybe your response to what'sleft after you've managed the
excuses that keep you fromwriting.
Lastly, if you have troublejournaling on your own, come
journal with us.
(14:10):
That's why I'm doing the freemonthly classes.
It's a guided conversation timeto reflect and write.
This is your superpower, myfriend.
Remember journaling.
The really the magic ofjournaling is helping you check
in and meet with yourself.
However you choose to interactwith those journals and pages
(14:35):
and things that you've alreadywritten.
This is the important piece.
Until next week, happyjournaling.
This is the important piece.
Until next week, happyjournaling.
Thank you for making it all theway to the end and thank you
for listening to differently.
If you enjoyed this episode,will you please go leave a
five-star review and share itwith someone.
Goodbye for now.
(14:55):
I'll see you next week.
A deep change in the way that we live requires a deep
change in the way that we think.
I'm Carla Reeves, and this isDifferently.
Happy Thursday.
I'm so glad that you've decidedto listen today.
I want to share with you aquestion I received from a
(00:20):
listener and that's what we'regoing to do today.
I love hearing from you.
So if you don't know that,there is a button when you're
clicked on the actual episode,it says there's a little button
that says send Carla a message.
I would love to hear from yousend me your questions, that you
(00:43):
have ideas, if there'ssomething you'd love to hear me
talk about.
Maybe you have a comment to anepisode.
Any and all of it is so goodand makes me so very happy.
So the question that I'vereceived is this.
It said Hi, carla, I've dabbledwith journaling on and off for
the last 10 years, but I haven'tdone it for a while.
(01:07):
One thing that stops me is whatdo I do with all those completed
journals?
Are they useful to keep andread later?
I'm trying to get rid ofclutter.
If I don't keep them, I'll havea stack of shredding to do,
because I'm not just going toput those in the recycling bin
with all that personalinformation?
What do people do with usedjournals?
(01:30):
So our short episode today isgoing to address that very
question what do we do with oldjournals and how can we address
the barriers like this that showup for all of us, that keep us
from doing something thatliterally has potential to
change our life in the very bestway?
(01:52):
So if you want to create ajournaling rhythm in your life,
which is it's so often I hearfrom people like I've dabbled in
journaling all these years or Ineed to get back to it or shoot
, I've forgotten and I haven'tjournaled in a while, and I know
how helpful it is.
I hear these things a lot.
We have to be willing toaddress the things that get in
(02:16):
the way, the little and bigthings that come in the way, the
reasons, the thoughts, theexcuses, the wondering like well
, what do I do with them and howdo I maintain that personal
information without somebodyfinding it?
And on and on and on.
This principle of addressing thebarriers is so important and
(02:40):
true for all change.
It's a principle that threadsthrough everything we do here at
the differently company,because so often we just try to
do the thing.
You know we want to journal andwe want to reach our goal, but
if we don't address the thingsthat are getting in the way,
they're going to keep popping up.
(03:01):
So first, high five to you forthe journaling you've done so
far.
The fact that you've dabbled injournaling tells me that
there's an interest here andthat there's something in it for
you.
It also makes me curious, and Ijust want to put this question
(03:21):
out to you is what, what else,keeps you from going all in?
Is there anything else?
Because if we can address thesebarriers, then all you have
left is your desire to write andthe rewards that await you.
I think it's important to have apurpose for your writing.
(03:42):
Having a vision for yourjournaling really helps cut
through all the noise and thestops that we feel, because if
we're doing something for apurpose, we'll make sacrifices,
we'll prioritize it and we'remore apt to show up.
Without a purpose, it feelslike another thing on our to-do
(04:03):
list or can just feel likedrudgery.
When I was a new mom is when Istarted journaling and I felt
God tell me to start writing.
My purpose for writing was tofigure out how to be a happy mom
, because I felt like that wouldbe one of the greatest gifts I
could give my children.
That's why I showed up to dothe writing.
(04:29):
It wasn't because I wanted towrite or I wanted to journal.
I wanted to be a better mom.
And so what is your purpose?
What is your purpose forwriting?
And if you don't know, startasking like what could it be?
Like, what would have you showup to do the hard part, which is
showing up in writing?
So when you're grapplingbetween your desire to journal
(04:54):
and fears about cluttering orprivacy, having this clear
mission is going to help youmake a system that works.
My early journaling mission wassimple to be a better mom.
That purpose was bigger than myfears of someone finding my
(05:14):
journals or the inconvenience ofwhere was I going to store them
or how was I going to deal withclutter.
The purpose was big enough thatI figured out how to manage the
other things, and you're goingto be able to do that too what
to do with old journals.
I want to just kind of stiryour thinking on some of this,
and these are simple, butremember there's no right answer
(05:38):
.
I want you to look for whatmakes sense for you and your
life and your commitments tohaving a clutter-free
environment and so on and soforth.
Here's some ideas of whatpeople do with old journals.
One you can keep them.
You could store them in boxesand label them by year and keep
them in a closet or in yourgarage or under your bed.
(06:00):
I was doing that for a lot ofyears and it just got
overwhelming and there were toomany.
And I started for a lot ofyears and it just got
overwhelming and there were toomany and I started to feel
afraid of, like you know, whatwere my kids gonna find later?
Or do I want my kids to read myjournals?
Like that's something I had toreally think about, and do I
want to keep all of them?
Because I I have boys.
I don't think they're reallygoing to care about my journals,
(06:21):
honestly, and I don't know thatanybody will.
But I also couldn't get rid ofall of them.
So I went through all of thosejournals a lot of years ago and
we had a bonfire in the backyardone night and we I just threw a
lot of them in there andreleased them and got rid of
(06:43):
them, and that felt really good.
And the way that I went throughthem, I just kind of picked
each one of them up and kind offlipped my fingers through it to
see what season of life wasthis and is this important?
Do I want to keep it?
And just kind of trusted myselfto know and if I didn't know or
I didn't feel like I could getrid of it, I kept it.
(07:05):
And then I did that.
I've done that probably threetimes in the last 20 years just
pared down and pared down andgot rid of more, and I would say
I have a you know a good stackof them now that I have held on
to because they meant somethingto me.
Another thing you could do isyou could digitize some of them.
If you wanted to take photos ofmaybe there's important pages,
(07:31):
but you don't need the wholething.
You could digitize some of that.
You could also digitize yourjournaling, in the sense that
you could start doing morewriting online instead of in a
paper notebook.
I do a blend of both.
They both fill a different need.
Like in the morning, during mymorning routine, I like writing
in a paper journal, but duringthe day or at night, I often
(07:54):
journal online.
So you could do a little bit ofboth to cut down on some of
that paper clutter.
We talked about selectivelykeeping things that are
meaningful.
We talked about releasing themor letting them go or shredding
or burning them.
Whatever feels right to you.
You could definitely shred them.
If privacy is a concern, youcan shred them.
(08:16):
The most important thing isthat you do whatever you need to
do so that you can write andcontinue writing and use this as
a tool in your life, because ifyou're worried about people
finding them and you just holdon to that and then you never do
it because you're afraid, thefear is running you.
(08:37):
So address the fear, handle itin the way you need to so that
you can keep writing, becausethis is going to benefit your
life in ways that you can't evenimagine if you start to do this
with a little more consistency.
And then I just want to talk fora minute about keeping old
journals.
Journals are a record of ourlife and our journey and our
growth.
(08:57):
Sometimes reading back can helpyou see how far you've come, or
see a pattern in your life thatyou're still grappling with.
Both are normal and good.
For me, mostly my journal is aprocessing tool more so than a
log of my life, and so I don'toften need to go back and look
(09:19):
at those journals.
I've been journalingconsistently since 1999, and I
have probably 20 journals overthat period of time.
Different seasons call for moreor less writing.
Remember that.
So some days you might write apage and other days it might
just be a sentence or a list.
And rereading over time just toreiterate it can support
(09:44):
reflection, it can support goalsetting, it might spark
inspiration for you.
When I look through oldjournals, I often discover
forgotten insights or ideasworth revisiting.
When to let your journals go,it's completely understandable
to not want clutter.
I don't want clutter in my lifeeither, and so you might
(10:06):
consider letting journals go,especially when you've already
gotten the lessons they're likeweaved into your life and you've
gotten what you needed fromthem.
Maybe holding on to those, thatold journal, that old energy
that's in that journal, doesn'tserve your growth and you just
feel like it would be better torelease that and let that go.
(10:27):
That's beautiful.
Do that, and then, if the spacethey take creates more stress
than a benefit, that's a greatindicator that it's time to
figure out a way to remove themfrom your life.
Get rid of them.
Trust that.
You'll know, and again.
There's no right way to do this.
A couple other creative ideas isI know a lot of times I'll fill
(10:50):
all like half fill a journaland then there's kind of wasted
pages in there and I hear peoplesay that all the time.
Or maybe they started thejournal at the beginning of the
year and wrote a few pages andthen they haven't done anything
and it feels weird to go back.
Give up the weirdness.
And if you want to use the restof those pages, I often will
pick up an old journal and I'lljust date it where I am and
(11:12):
finish it.
You could always label them ifyou need to.
I don't do that, but if youneed to label them so that you
can go back and reference them,do that.
I don't do that, but if youneed to label them so that you
can go back and reference them,do that.
My favorite idea is to mine oldjournals for creative ideas or
content.
If you have a business.
I do this a lot I will actuallyuse a piece of my journal entry
(11:34):
to inspire an email or apodcast, so that can be fun too.
If you're still listening atlistening at this point I have a
challenge for you becauseyou're, at a minimum, curious
about what journaling can do inyour life.
So here's my challenge I wantyou to just sit down for five
minutes and write down all thereasons or things that get in
(11:56):
your way of writing moreconsistently.
I want you to then go througheach one and just challenge each
one honestly.
Is this real?
Is it something you'vefabricated to just delay the
process of actually doing thewriting?
Is it something you can addressand just manage and handle and
(12:17):
remove that from your list andthen ask yourself look look at
what's left, and I want you tosend me a message.
Hit that send Carla messagebutton and tell me what's left
for you after you manage andaddress the reasons and things
that get in your way.
My own barriers include, youknow, when I bump up against not
(12:39):
sitting down to write, are notknowing what to write, maybe not
having the time, or feelinglike I don't have the time,
feeling like I might just writeand write and write and there's
no point and it's a waste oftime.
Maybe I feel some discomfort tolike go into those feelings
around that thing I'm navigating.
Sometimes that's hard, but it'sthe very thing I need, and then
(13:03):
there's always distractionsright that are pulling me away
to do something else, but when Ichallenge these excuses, what
remains is simple God called meto write all those years ago.
I don't have to know why I'mwriting.
The practice is the magic and Ialways have time when I make
(13:25):
time.
So, in closing, thank you somuch for your message, listener.
This sparked so many ideas andI know it's going to be a
message that others need to hear, and I thank you so much for
igniting excitement for this.
Send me a message feature.
It would make me so happy tohear from you, my listener, on a
(13:50):
regular basis or a little moreoften.
So do it today.
Go hit that button and send mea message, an idea, a question,
maybe your response to what'sleft after you've managed the
excuses that keep you fromwriting.
Lastly, if you have troublejournaling on your own, come
journal with us.
(14:10):
That's why I'm doing the freemonthly classes.
It's a guided conversation timeto reflect and write.
This is your superpower, myfriend.
Remember journaling.
The really the magic ofjournaling is helping you check
in and meet with yourself.
However you choose to interactwith those journals and pages
(14:35):
and things that you've alreadywritten.
This is the important piece.
Until next week, happyjournaling.
This is the important piece.
Until next week, happyjournaling.
Thank you for making it all theway to the end and thank you
for listening to differently.
If you enjoyed this episode,will you please go leave a
five-star review and share itwith someone.
Goodbye for now.
(14:55):
I'll see you next week.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
The Joe Rogan Experience
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.