Journaling Isn't "A Stoic Practice"

The irony of what follows is that I’m presently in the process of developing my own journaling program — complete with journal, writing prompts, and monthly calls: Journaling isn’t any more Stoic than boxing, horseback riding, swimming, or any other activity you’d endeavor to make a routine part of your life.

Of course, this doesn’t stop countless $toicism influencers from trying to sell us any number of journaling products that they insist will, for example, help us to “become more Stoic in 2025”.

Stoicism as a philosophy isn’t any single action (like journaling). It is a lifelong commitment to the pursuit of Virtue

We already know, as Stoics, that Virtue is the only good because it is the only thing that is always good, all the time, and with no contextual exceptions.

Journaling, on the other hand, is an indifferent activity that can be either preferred or dispreferred.

If we have the free time during our day to journal, and we feel doing so improves us in some marked way, then we could consider journaling as a preferred indifferent.

If, however, we believe that journaling is what Stoics must do to be decent Stoics, we’re suggesting that journaling is always preferred which would make it always good.

But this would force us to declare that Virtue is not the only good, which would break Stoicism. We’d all have to become Aristotelians instead.

It would also require that we accept, as an objective fact, that one could not be Stoic unless they journaled (which is entirely stupid).

Thank goodness, then, that journaling isn’t always preferred and that it can very easily (and suddenly) become dispreferred.

Here’s an example of how journaling could be dispreferred in a Stoic practice:

Imagine I get a bee in my bonnet for journaling and assent to the impression that journaling is a requirement of Stoicism. So sure of this am I that I begin ignoring my other role-based responsibilities (such as picking my kid up after school, or making dinner for my family, or showing up to work on time) so I can make time for journaling.

In this scenario, journaling will have become a vice — an impediment to my pursuit of Virtue — which would immediately and necessarily make it dispreferred.

So there’s no argument, journaling isn’t “Stoic.”

But it’s not “un-Stoic” either.

Stoicism is about appropriate reason and behaviour

Journaling might be part of any given Stoic’s practice, but not because journaling is Stoic.

Any activity that we justly reason to be appropriate in our pursuit of Virtue is “conditionally Stoic” — meaning it is Stoic for specifically us in our specific context specifically because it aids our pursuit; that it is aligned with our practice of our philosophy.

Do we feel that keeping a daily or weekly journal will help us pursue Virtue?

Or do we think we have to be like Marcus Aurelius, who kept a journal, in order to be properly Stoic?

If it is the case that we believe journaling will help, that’s great, but it’s not the end of the reasoning we must do to ensure that the choice to start journaling is an appropriate one.

We’ll also need to figure out if we have time to journal and, if not, whether we can make time for journaling without abandoning our other role-based duties and responsibilities (there’s nothing wrong with journaling, but there’s definitely something wrong with journaling at all costs!).

We’d also need to figure out whether the way we’re journaling is a way that moves us toward a better character and, thus, Virtue. Writing about our day in a “dear diary” fashion isn’t really doing much more than giving us a place to vent (which, of course, has its own benefits but isn’t helpful to a philosophical practice — at least, not directly).

To journal Stoically is to journal introspectively, to speak to our own “soul” and examine whether the way we’re behaving and thinking is strengthening and improving it or not — and if not, what questions or thoughts we could pose to ourselves to change that!

Do you still want to add journaling to your Stoic practice?

As I mentioned, I’m developing a journaling program right now. If you’d like to be made aware of it when it launches (which could be in a month or a year), click here and add your name to the notifications list.

If you’re already journaling, think about what I’ve shared here today and ask yourself at least these two questions:

1. Am I journaling for the right reasons?

2. Is the way I’m journaling aid my pursuit of Virtue?

Thanks for reading and, by the way, happy New Year to you.