Someone told me my shadow work journal was 'too negative' and I shut down for a week

My coworker glanced at my journal during lunch break in Denver and said I was just manufacturing problems instead of actually processing them. I started writing only positive observations for a month - has anyone else had to completely flip their journaling method to see real progress?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_anthony22d ago

Nah. Sometimes the mess is the point.

wood.eric22d ago

Honestly, "sometimes the mess is the point" hit me hard. I had a buddy who went through this whole "burn your journal" phase after a bad breakup. He was so scared of his own thoughts that he'd write on napkins and then light 'em up in the sink. He said the act of watching it burn was the only way he could let go of the heavy stuff. He still does it sometimes when he's really stuck. It's weird but it works for him, even if it looks like a disaster to everyone else.

emmaclark22d ago

My therapist in Boulder actually told me to burn my first shadow journal after I got stuck in the same cycle. She said the whole point is to break patterns, not document them. I started using a voice memo app instead of writing because typing felt too permanent and heavy. Now I just ramble for 2 minutes on my phone and delete it right after, it lets me get the dark stuff out without having to look at it again.