How to Avoid Writing Tomorrow’s Journal Entry Today

 

I have kept a journal for several years now. Typically each morning I’ll spend about 20 minutes writing down the events from the day before, capturing what I can that made that day unique and memorable before it fades into the blur of the past. 

So typically each day I write about yesterday. It’s a good system.

But a few years ago, as I recorded yet another journal entry, a scary thought occurred to me: Can I write tomorrow’s journal entry today? 

Deja-vu, All Over Again

What I started noticing in my journal entries was that, with the exception of small details, I could write them in advance of what actually happened and be correct. I woke up, did this, did that, here’s how it went, that was a another day. 

I wondered how many days in advance I could do this. Could I write next week’s journal entry today? Could I write next month’s? What about next year’s? 

How far in advance is my life already predictable? And did I even like what I saw in the forecast? 

Henry David Thoreau, the 19th-century American philosopher, opted to lived beside a pond for two years. In less than a week of living there, he noticed a little path had formed on the grass from his route to and from the pond. He saw this as a metaphor, concluding, “The surface of the earth is soft and impressible by the feet of men; and so with the paths which the mind travels.”

Thoreau recognized that the palette of the world was diverse, and new and challenging experiences within it were what was worth pursuing. While there is a comfort and familiarity with the predictable routines we may choose to embrace, true richness is found in branching into the uncharted territory of life. 

I do not want to resign myself to live out a story I have already heard. 

Making Tomorrow an Adventure

As I record each day’s journal summary, I do NOT want it to just play on repeat for decades to come. I do NOT want to clearly see a predictable, common story ahead and resign myself to the path narrated for me. 

I want an interesting story, with twists and turns, unexpected surprises, and trials and triumph. We tend to relish what makes us comfortable; but we tend to thrive when we extend beyond comfort and predictable.

As much as we may thrive off of routine and discipline – two staples of the pursuit that anchor us to those daily rhythms of ambition – 

I want to learn something GOOD and NEW, making each day different than the one before and steadily writing a story that evolves into a grand narrative. 

How does this happen? It begins with a commitment to dive into the new, to say yes to the challenges and opportunities that open up, to have a dream and aspire to turn it into a reality, and to cherish and learn from each chapter along the way. 

This can happen in big and little ways. Rewriting tomorrow’s journal entry might begin with something as simple as trying a new recipe or taking an unexplored route on your next bike ride. Here are some slightly bigger examples of what Rosanna and I have tried over the last few years:

• Making new friends
• Enhancing old skills (graphic design, writing, speaking, music, cooking)
• Learning new skills (like accounting, podcasting, web design, video editing)
• Starting a business
• Taking a new job
• Investing in real estate
• Traveling to new places 

Our list is not earth-shattering. But it is ongoing, in large ways and in small. What verbs will your story include? Travel, read, connect, learn, build, try, change, grow.

Diving Into One Little Example

Last summer I made a decision that I surprised myself with, but have been happy about ever since. I wrote articles for an online education website for several years, and I really enjoyed doing this. Almost every weekend was spent crafting posts and stories, and over time this generated a comfy little side income. (If you google my name you’ll find several of these come up). 

But this slowly grew into more of a chore than a passion. While I still loved the idea of submitting my ideas and getting the published online, I fell out of love with the routine and the fact that these were published on other’s sites. 

So last summer I quit the gig. Side income or no, I had to start a new chapter. 

Without knowing what was going to happen, I figured out how to start up and design my own website (JordanCatapano.com – check it out!). Now I write whatever I want to and am pursuing a different phase of my writing and connecting. Maybe no one will read it, maybe no one will like it, but I did something new that is making me a little uncomfortable and teaching me new things about myself along the way. 

Yet Still Finding Joy in the Common

I’m not saying that we should scrape up all the bits of our lives and dump them into the trash to start fresh. That would be a disaster. I am saying that there may be opportunity to find one thing, even one little area of our lives, to try something new. 

Rosanna and I have many routines and disciplines we stick to. We are extremely committed to certain things that we’re unlikely to ever give up (for example, when we moved into a new home last year, we loved our town, friends, school, and family so much that we only moved about 8 blocks away – not exactly a radical change). We have traditions we adore, and we find freedom in the disciplines we practice. 

Similarly, if you looked at our daily planners you’d see them filled with activities, and as you get to know us you’ll see that we set goals and do as much as we can to impose our will on the future. 

But we have begun to find true joy in the process of discovery, in venturing into the unknown, and turning to the next page in our journals and finding them fluttering with questions. 

Tomorrow’s journal entry is yet to be written. The relentless pursuit is about avoiding living a life where we can so easily write tomorrow’s entry today, or finding ourselves a decade from now in the same person we we were at today.