Why 'pen and paper' journaling can be a spiritual act in a digital world
‘It's my me-time. It provides me a sense of zen and it gives me a creative outlet’
These days, keeping track of your schedule usually means plugging in a few details into an online calendar or maybe even keeping track of a list in your cell phone.
But for many people, paper planners and journals are still an effective — and maybe even profound — way of both planning and documenting our endless list of appointments, birthdays, and other important events.
Rowena Sunga, who owns Paper Plus Cloth, a stationery store in Toronto's west end, says writing it down is just one part of the exercise. The real insight comes later, she says, when you revisit your earlier self on the pages of your planner.
Sunga told Tapestry's Mary Hynes that, as a mom of 5 kids, she sees first-hand how the appeal of paper planners persists, even in a digital world.
There are so many ways to keep track of your life digitally, and yet so many of us cling to this pen and paper with a physical notebook or a planner. Is there some deep human need being fulfilled there?
We began with paper. It was one of our first forms of mediums for communication. And there's something very tangible and comforting about writing things down. Scientifically, I know there's evidence of there being more cognitive information and retaining [of] information when you write things down. So I think that despite all the advances and digital technology, there's always going to be a large portion of us who see the value in writing things down and keep doing it that way.
I've heard that there are university professors who say, "No taking notes digitally in this class; you need to write things down." Because it's been shown retention is much, much better when you are physically writing something on paper. Where's the magic in writing something down on paper for you?
It's sort of a creative outlet for me. It used to be something that I would sort of use to keep my life in order. I don't know if you know I have five children — although two of them are grown now — and keeping schedules together and appointments and birthdays, remembering all those things, it's just something that I need to write down. But recently I've noticed that just getting everything that's causing the anxiety and filling up my head out on paper is really calming. It's my me-time. It provides me a sense of zen and it gives me a creative outlet for sure.
Is it as though the paper is helping you carry the load?
Yes. I was actually speaking to someone about it before and I was telling them that our journals — for those who do it regularly — the things that you write in there, [if] this journal was an actual person, they would be more than a best friend. They would carry so much of your intimate thoughts, moments, things that you probably don't even dare to speak out loud. So they know you quite well. And they're sort of like that friend that can't ever really talk or reveal your secrets.
So there's an added layer of safety that your stuff is safe.
Yes, they can't be hacked online either.
There's keeping track of your life with a planner and then there's writing in a journal — and I think that line gets blurred for a lot of people. Is there a connection between the two from what you've seen?
I think the line is getting blurred because a lot of people don't have a lot of time to write in two separate notebooks and chronicle things in two different ways. And so combining the two is really all about efficiency and productivity. You're writing down your schedule anyway, and if you're writing about soccer practice, you might as well toss in a few thoughts there about how well it went or what your kids said that day. So it makes sense to blur the lines and combine the two.
Tell me about some aspect of your life, Rowena, where your devotion to pen and paper and a physical planner means you're keeping everything together.
It's when I look back ... I mean, yes, it'll keep track of birthdays and things I have to do, appointments I have to go to. But the satisfaction really comes when I sort of look back. I see patterns. I've started to actually even incorporate photos in sort of some of my journaling. And that completes the picture for me. And when I look back, I'm able to see things that, in the heat of the moment, I wasn't able to see before. And how that helps is just so immense. It really sort of refocuses you, and gets you out of your head and more thinking about, "Okay, I can admit that maybe I do a little bit too much of this" or "I, you know, look at this pattern here, I have a pattern of being negative on myself." That kind of stuff. All that stuff emerges when you sort of reflect and read back what you've written.
Whether it is a planner or a journal, people are often so daunted by confronting the blank page. How do you face that? Do you have any trade secrets or tricks to get yourself going, particularly when you're starting a brand new journal? I think a lot of people become really flummoxed by this on January the first. "Look at this pristine, clean, beautiful book. And I'm going to mess it up."
It's funny, I hear that a lot at the store. You know, these people will come in and they'll find a planner that works for them and I'll see them a week later and I'll be like, how's it going? "Oh, I'm too scared to write in it. I don't want to mess it up." And actually, it's all about the mess. You just have to sort of reframe your way of thinking and approach to it. But I do find it is psychological to approach a blank piece.
Tapestry asked Rowena Sunga: How do you put six planners to work?
Q&A edited for length and clarity. Written by Tayo Bero. Interview produced by Rosie Fernandez and Sameer Chhabra.