Journaling with Aphantasia – Tips and Experiences

Interesting question! I have this week (and quite by chance) discovered I have aphantasia according to the test on this site. However, I write a lot, and enjoy putting my thoughts down in writing about my work (I’m a designer – but more on that later!). And I am often accused of writing too much. I think this may be because, unlike people who can visualise things, I have to process my thoughts of them in a “verbal” way to myself. I think this may be the same for phantasics who think about abstract things: you can’t really visualise “democracy” or “irony” after all – or if you can, then you’re not properly describing the details of those things. So everyone has to describe abstract things in non-visual ways. But aphantasics just do that for everything.

To return to your question though – If you struggle to keep a journal going, maybe try thinking about something you’re interested in like a political argument, a relationship you have, a place/thing you like/dislike and why, etc. and write about that when the mood takes you – so more like a blog than a journal? Take an idea (as I do) and “visualise” it in writing? That’s what I do at least.

I think the great thing about journaling is that it is an innately personal thing, so you can literally write anything you like. To get into the habit you could start with writing at least one sentence a day. And if you’re feeling stuck you could write about your day, how you feel, even “This is a sentence.” But I think as you sit down, pick up the pencil, computer, marker, or whatever, you’ll find yourself writing more and building a habit.

I journal on and off, but when I do it is aggressive and quite comprehensive. I have been very consistent the past few years going for months of journaling at a time during a year and have found the following helpful:

– Write on a computer: Writing by hand is extremely slow and could be frustrating, I started handwriting but I’m to impatient for it and could not get the ideas down close to fast enough. As a side note, when I am sad writing by hand tends to be better for me and I don’t mind the slowness.
– Learn to type fast: Typing fast makes me journal a train of thought and I get very interesting insights by just flowing with it at the speed I can manage. This also reduces the commitment time.
– Answer a question: When I’ve been most consistent it has been because I have a list of questions that I keep adding to and I journal by addressing one specific question each day. These questions seem to be about what I think about something or how I feel about it. For example: what does marriage mean to me, if money was not part of the equation what would I do, what is freedom/power/motivation according to me, what would my life be like if I was a sentient boulder, etc. These usually create follow-up questions.
– Gratitude Journaling: When I’m not feeling particularly insightful, I just gratitude journal by writing what happened during the day in a list such as “The amazing coffee I made this morning”. This was very hard at the start, but as you bring focus to it it becomes easier and you find more to feel grateful about.
– Write about the feelings you want to evoke or understand: Ties to gratitude, I seldom think about gratitude, but writing what it means to me and finding the small pieces made it extremely present. I don’t even gratitude journal anymore as after a year I just feel it often and check it in my mind instead of writing it down. If I want to evoke assertiveness I write about it until I really define it and find what is in line with my character and meaning of assertiveness which makes it easy to act in line with it as I’ve already sorted out the hard part of understanding it.
– Track how you feel once a month: When I started, I would just write how I felt, when I went back and read it it was amazing to see how much I had grown and changed which was a huge dopamine hit that made me want to journal even more.

Good luck! And enjoy the process

> Life before death. Strength before weakness. Journey before destination.