I've been journaling fairly consistently since I was 15 or 16. My writing progressed the same way I think everyone's* does: at first I wrote about events, like the general goings-on of the day; then I wrote about other people, what I thought of them and how they made me feel; and, now, I primarily write about myself, how I'm changing, my worries and triumphs, etc. *"Everyone" is an assumption and an exaggeration, but I'm 99% sure I heard someone Very Smart say it. Can't find the source though :( It's the first thing I ever remember being certain of, that writing was a good use of my time. At first, I strictly journaled in long-hand, long-form entries. Looking back, I took a lot of pride in the sheer *volume* of what I could write that it became a pressure point. Over time, I learned that I could just as effectively capture my thoughts and feelings through other formats -- mind-mapping, collaging, prompts (which I'd avoided for a long time because they felt very "young" for me). And somewhere in there, Marie Poulin started talking about Notion. This was a sort-of serendipitous connection in everything. When I was hired by my first client, Janelle (who is actually a through-line in a lot of this!), she'd recently recorded a podcast with Marie and Ben. I checked their websites and social media regularly for things to share, but didn't pay much attention until Janelle introduced me to Notion. She'd hired a workspace designer*, basically, to set up client portals, projects, etc. to move from Asana to Notion. I was responsible for setting up all of *internal* project management stuff, and I hated it. Could not figure out why anyone would want to use it. But, lo and behold, while checking Marie's Twitter feed, she'd shared [this video]([Why you need a master task database in Notion (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAbVJFP7DQQ&ab_channel=MariePoulin)): Why You Need a Master Task Database in Notion. That video permanently changed the way I work and hooked me on anything Marie wanted to teach me. Then she posted [this video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Z06fqYhNgM&ab_channel=MariePoulin): Using Notion as Your Daily Journal. I'd actually just *really* learned about databases / relations (again, thanks to Janelle and her introducing me to Gareth Pronovost, who also fundamentally changed my work) and the idea of applying those concepts to a *journal* was utterly revolutionary to me. (As I'm writing this, I feel like I sound, I dunno, a little incompetent? Were databases something I should have known about before my mid-20s? Sue me, idk. Anyway --) I've had incredibly complex...