Journaling Through the COVID-19 Pandemic

Keeping a Covid-19 Journal

We are living in a truly life-changing historic moment. Keeping a journal is an excellent way to document your life and does not need to be a complicated process. You can use a blank notebook to record your thoughts, dating each entry. If a blank notebook with all that space seems daunting and you want to write a minimal amount, use a calendar notebook that has pre-dated but limited space. You can also keep a journal as a document in your computer.

Ideas for what to include (and don’t forget to include pictures and doodling):

• Whatever is on your mind about the pandemic (including how you feel about it),
• Your observations about what is happening in society as a result of the pandemic (like people buying up all the hand sanitizer, bleach, toilet paper, and flour, or the financial markets taking a dive, or people losing their jobs),
• How you are altering your habits, work life, and living arrangements to cope with the situation,
• The new ways you are learning to socialize, including the technology you use to keep in touch,
• What’s up in politics (I wouldn’t blame you for skipping this one),
• How you are passing the time if you don’t have a lot of work to do (new hobbies picked up, old hobbies renewed, etc.),
• How you are coping with having children home (if this is your situation),
• How your pets are coping with having you home (imagine a conversation they might be having about you hanging around all day),
• How you are helping others (checking in on relatives, serving in an essential service capacity, etc.),
• What unexpected blessings you have been received,
• How you are coping emotionally with social isolation and fear related to the pandemic (if you use humor to cope, including gallows humor, make note of it – don’t let people in the future assume we’re all puritanical saints),
• What you most want to remember about this time and why,
• What music you are listening to or tv shows you are binging on,
• Anything else you want to write about.

In case you need a little motivation, here are a few, among many, reasons to write in journals:

To remember and tell our stories
To understand ourselves and our emotions
To sift through all of the hairy things that happen in a day
To dream or imagine the future
To make up funny things
To rant and rave at injustices, large and small
To enjoy the tactile feel of pen on paper
To disconnect from technology
To slow down
To clear our minds and focus
To find solutions or understanding to our problems
To figure out what our problems are
To look back on our past and see where we came from
To be more creative