Journaling can help us during this surreal period
Journaling can help us express feelings during this surreal period
This is an ideal time to focus our feelings from the quietude of our soul, and put them into words. We will someday look back on this period of profound uncertainty to reexamine how we endured it. Who better to remind us than ourselves?
It’s called the Plague Journals. “I started it when people were talking about self-quarantining and social distancing,” said Julia Dziubla, of Chesterton, Indiana. “I was reading through Facebook posts and filtering through people’s reactions, along with reading scientific and not-so-scientific articles. I was finding myself frustrated by the lack of authenticity.”
All of us have witnessed something similar on social media, in public, or in our personal relationships. Everyone has their own way of reacting to this COVID-19 pandemic and its emotional and psychological complexities. Fear, anger, confusion, distrust or casual dismissiveness about this unprecedented public health crisis.
“Rather than jump into the fray, I suggested on a Facebook post that people should just start documenting their thoughts and feelings in a journal,” Dziubla told me. “This way they could look back days, weeks or months later as a record of what we were going through.”
A friend of hers said, “Hey, cool, Plague Journals, I love it.”
She took it one step further to create a private Facebook group, inviting friends who showed an interest in joining her journaling project. It’s now up to 200 members from around the world.
“It has really grown and I’m thrilled to have an international perspective, too,” Dziubla said. “I enjoy everyone’s updates. Some are sad, some are funny, some people vent. We have one member from California who documents through cartooning.”
The Plague Journals is a private Facebook group but new members can be invited or ask to join on their own. Its rules are simple: no memes (to encourage creative writing), no media stories unless specific to journaling, and no “ableism” that discriminates against anyone with disabilities.
“Post experiences, observations and thoughts,” writes Dziubla, director of recruiting for Recruiter Dogs LLC, a staffing consultation firm.
“Dear Journal, woke up to an
8 a.m. conference call (1000 employees). If the words compassion and bank can ever be used in the same sentence it happened today,” wrote one female member from Porter. “The president of the bank mentioned a quote about how during tough times we make diamonds, and we are all making diamonds. I wanted to chime in and tell him I was never a big fan of jewels.”
“I am working from home, perched in my second floor tree top office/music room, looking out at the birds who don’t seem to be affected at all!” she added.
This type of mutual journaling is seeing a resurgence amid this historic crisis. Groups are popping up across our region and around the world. It’s tapping into our human nature of packing together in the face of danger or a common enemy.
“There are many ways to write in your journal,” said Jerry Hager, of
Valparaiso, Ind., a former teacher who’s no stranger to putting his thoughts on paper.
One of his favorite ways is called “20 thoughts,” when you simply and spontaneously jot 20 or more facts about a person, place or thing that happened now or in the past.
“It’s easier to write spontaneously about a positive event or person than a negative one,” he said. “Now might be time to start that journal. Many of you have had really interesting lives. Reflect and enjoy.”
Yes, even during a public health emergency that has our country screeched to a temporary halt. In fact, especially during this “stay at home” time in our lives. I keep hearing from people complaining about being bored. As my grandfather once told me, if you’re bored than you’re boring.
“To be very clear, this virus doesn’t care if you’re bored and you want to hang out with your friends,” said Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker at his news conference Thursday.
This is an ideal time to focus our feelings from the quietude of our soul, and put them into words, I say.
As Hager puts it, “What do you do daily that’s more important than reflecting on the lessons of life?”
“The historian in me is making everyone here start a journal of this crazy quarantine,” said Kara Graper, of Crown Point, Indiana, referring to her family. “Hopefully it will be the only one the kids will ever have to endure, and this will help them remember how they did.”
Exactly. We will someday look back on this period of profound uncertainty to reexamine how we endured it. Who better to remind us than ourselves, through our own words? History has its eyes on us, too, not only our government leaders.
“Help capture this unique historical moment so future generations can understand what this experience was like for Hoosiers,” states the Indiana Historical Society’s new project, “Telling Your Story: Documenting COVID-19 in Indiana.”
The organization has launched this “collecting initiative” to document the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on Indiana, in real time. It requests your input through writings, photos, drawings, and even short videos. For more info, go to rb.gy/owyugb.
Because I write every day for my newspaper columns and freelance projects, I’ve never truly “journaled,” which usually comes out through social media ramblings. However,
I’ve been squirreling away my observations during this pandemic.
Everything now feels so surreal, a word that keeps coming back to me like a circling gust of wind.
I recommend that every so often we zoom back from our immediate concerns to reflect on the broader scope of things. It’s during these reflective moments when I realize how historic this period in time is for us, and how it will be remembered as we look back on it, someday. This “someday” will eventually arrive, and only then will we have the needed perspective to view this pandemic in its totality, the full breadth of it all.
Journaling can capture all of this, not only for future generations but for us.
I’m already looking forward to looking back.