Hit 500 days of daily journaling and now I'm not sure if I should keep going or stop

So I just hit 500 days straight of writing in a journal app, which is a number I never thought I'd see. I started because I was feeling really stressed about work and a friend said it might help clear my head. For the first few months, it felt great, like I was dumping all my junk thoughts onto a page. But lately, it's started to feel like a chore. I'm sitting there at 11 PM trying to think of something to say, even if my day was totally boring. Part of me thinks I should quit now that I've hit this big round number and call it a win. The other part worries that if I stop, I'll lose that little bit of quiet time I built for myself, and all that stress might come rushing back. It's become this weird daily choice between sticking with a habit that feels forced or risking a backslide into old patterns. Has anyone else pushed through a long streak only to wonder if the point got lost along the way?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonp7618h ago

Look at it this way, you already proved you can do it for 500 days. That's a done deal. The whole thing was just a tool to feel less stressed, not a life sentence. If the tool is now causing stress, maybe the job is done and you can put it away. You can always pick it back up if you actually miss it, not just the number.

danielnelson22h ago

Hey, congrats on the huge streak. But I have to ask, why are you forcing yourself to write at 11 PM if it feels like a chore? The point was to clear your head, not create a new source of stress. Maybe you could change the rule to just writing when you actually have something to say, even if that means skipping days.

holly_reed5520h ago

Honestly it's like we've all turned self-care into another job. I see it with meditation apps too, people stressing over perfect streaks instead of just breathing. The streak becomes the point and you lose the real reason you started. That's why his question hit me, I'm doing the same thing with my journal now. The goal was to feel better, not to win a number game.