# You Don't Have to Be Marcus Aurelius. Louis XVI Kept a Diary Too.

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Over the last 4-5 years I have tried picking up journaling and maintaining a diary multiple times. It has only been in the last 18 months or so where I can finally say I'm someone who maintains a diary.  
  
At the same time I have had many conversations with friends about the idea of journaling, about how they feel like they should but they are not able to get into the habit of it or it feels like something that is very overwhelming. Those conversations prompted me to capture my journey, how it finally clicked for me, what helped me stick to it and how I think it has helped.  
  
Funny enough it starts with this book I was reading on the French Revolution back then and it mentioned how King Louis XVI maintained a diary. Because his routine was so boring in Versailles, mostly the diary entry would be a combination of supper, attending court and hunting.

The same entries over and over again. He famously wrote *Rien (nothing)* in his diary entry the day Bastille fell, so maybe Louis was a little too nonchalant.  
  
On the other end of the spectrum, you probably have the most famous journal of all time, which is Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations.

So why am I talking about King Louis and Marcus Aurelius? Because what clicked for me was that if the King of France could keep such a boring journal, then why was I thinking of this activity as something that had to be profound? Who was going to read about my days and who cares if it’s mundane, most days probably should be mundane.

It took off the pressure, it’s not special, it’s just something I do.

Most people first encounter journaling in the context of mental well-being. Someone writes about how it pulled them out of a hole, and the idea arrives pre-loaded - this is something you do when you’re struggling.

I treated my diary like that too for a while, reaching for it only when my head and heart felt heavy. But that quietly builds a link between the diary and the bad days. You end up with a habit made of sadness, and habits made of sadness don’t last.

If you write regardless of how the day went, the diary becomes something else entirely: a snapshot of whatever the day was. Good day, it captures why. Bad day, same. No pressure on either.

## The Paper, Pen and Your Thoughts

The idea of keeping a diary, in its rawest form, is extremely simple - you have paper, you have a pen and then you go to town about how your day has been. Stick with this thought for a second and forget about everything you’ve heard about it. This simplicity is what you should embrace.

Almost all of my entries read like a letter, written to someone who I have utmost confidence in. Not the kind of confidence that someone would keep your secrets, but confidence that someone would keep up with your ramblings. These are unstructured thoughts, branches upon branches of conversations without any regard of anyone’s ability to keep up with it.

I am not trying to make it look a certain way. I am not trying to be profound. I’m not trying to be anything.

It’s just the pen, the paper, and my stream of thoughts, and it’s magical. If you just let your brain do its thing and don’t get distracted, then you will be surprised with what kind of direction that might take.  
  
I think that’s what journaling is about. It’s like one of those Wikipedia rabbit holes. You start with an article, you keep clicking random links that interest you in any way, and you might end up on a certain article. In your head there was no connection between where you started and where you ended up, but now there is - it can be happy, sad, amusing or just intriguing, but I bet you’ll be surprised!

For me, this discovery is the best part of journaling because if you ever (and I don’t do this often) pick up a random day and you’re just trying to go through what was going on in your head at that time, its interesting to observe how your present self perceives what your past self was going through then.

## Cluttered Diary = Uncluttered Brain

If I had to share the biggest benefit I have experienced from this exercise, it would be that my brain feels less cluttered. We use to-do lists to reduce anxiety around our immediate task list, the same principle applies here.

There have been days where a very active mind kept me up and offloading those thoughts to the page helped me sleep, but more importantly, it helps me reset each night and not carry the stress of yesterday into today.

## How to get started and stick to it

I think the next thing is how to get started, right? Again choose the path with lowest friction - it could be a diary and pen, it could be a note taking app maybe, just pick a medium that naturally lets you think and that you can easily continue with over time.

Once you have the medium, that’s it, just let your brain do its thing and recall your day and then just get started, maybe think of the most patient person you trust and imagine writing a letter to them, telling them about your day and continue writing without censoring any thought, any idea. Don’t stop till you observe no more thoughts coming into your head.

The part that really helps me stay consistent over here is that my diary stays next to my bed at all times. Before I go to sleep, ***I try*** to start writing.

If you take one thing away from this: you’re doing it for yourself, so it can take whatever shape works for you. A page, a paragraph, a single line.

And the next time you feel the pressure of what a diary is supposed to be, remember that the King of France kept one too. On the day the Bastille fell, it said nothing.