One of the biggest misconceptions I had when I joined the Army was that journaling would be easy because there is excitement every day. That idea lasted through my first deployment. I found out soon after and with subsequent deployments that I find myself struggling with journaling.
I am a big believer in journaling. I have spoken about it before about how I began journaling in the seventh grade and have journaled off and on for over thirty years. But, what I found during my first deployment was that sometimes it is hard to journal. Not because it is some emotional event, but sometimes there is absolutely nothing new to add. I work hard every day, but I do pretty much the same thing every day. I do not leave my half mile wide Army Base except for the occasional weekend trip. I see the same people, eat the same food, shop at the same two stores, and even run the same routes.
When you are deployed or stationed unaccompanied overseas, you work. And much of that work is repetitive. This is not a complaint, but a reality that there is not much to write about. I have found that my journaling has dwindled down, especially as I write daily here and that I write my ten lines a day in my “story a day” notebook. The best way to write in these conditions is to constantly try to put something down. Through this blog and my story a day notebook, I am forced to produce. Sometimes it is good, sometimes it isn’t. However, each time I am writing something which helps me constantly move forward.
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