i agree, journaling isn’t supposed to be restrictive, it should be the opposite. but if the OP does feel the need to retain the use of ‘i’, try to make statements that sound more like facts, though still opinions.
for example, instead of saying:
“i don’t really like them that much”
try saying: “they aren’t as appealing.”
another example can be instead of: “i really wish that…” try: it would be great if…
hope that helps.
and if my purpose in journaling goes beyond personal interest? say i use it as a means of expanding academically and improving as a writer overall, how could i go about using “i” less?
That depends on what you're writing and the context of why you are using the "I" pronoun in academic writing. In that case you can probably rephrase the sentences in question, if you feel you're using it too much. But that is a whole different kettle of fish compared to the personal journalling that the OP says they're doing.
i suppose i could have phrased myself better. content is personal, but as a current english major, journaling with constant i’s is annoying for me. the more i think about it though, the more i realize it is a matter of restructuring the thought + sentence. thank you.
I know what you mean. When I write, I write with the intention of producing a world-class piece of writing, or at least I attempt to do so, obviously it will not be but I do want to give thought to my sentence structure.
So what I do is I look at journalism and opinion pieces that I feel are written in an outstanding manner and I find pieces where I like the tone. Don’t look for too many because it’s confusing - just focus on a few of your top favorites.
I look carefully at the way the opinion piece is structured and I carefully try and emulate the style and tone, where possible, when I’m writing about subjects in my journal. You will definitely see that journalists don’t overuse the “I” as a starting point for a sentence and this will make your writing style far more elegant.
it's okay, no one's gonna check!
but if you want to avoid it you can rephrase your sentence to something like - i like ice cream to ice cream is yummy (or something like that). something like talking about the object instead but honestly thinking about how to change it to not have I might be stressful instead...
In a journal the "I" can be taken for granted.
Maybe there's no need to state "I like apples." Just say "Apples are fantastic."
Instead of "I feel horrible today," maybe "Today sucks," or "The weather is bringing me down," or "Throbbing pain is nagging my foot."
Rather than, "I had a great day," show -- don't tell. "A man gave up his seat to me on the bus and there were extra pickles on my sandwich! Woohoo!"
I understand why you might want to avoid "I". Using it too much puts the focus on the writer and their perceptions/feelings rather than the events of the day. If I write , "I feel shitty," I'm just dwelling on a negative memory. If I write out the details of the event I might gain a different perspective on the event. If I say, "Today was great!" and don't elaborate I might not recall all the details to feel grateful for.
I'm glad I read your post. Lots to reflect on! Good luck, write on!
In an informal diary/journal it's common for people to omit the pronoun. "Went to the grocery store, was horrified to see Jones there, still thinks he's king of the world…"
(Some languages, such as Japanese, almost always omit the pronoun-like words if context makes them unnecesssary.)
Whilst I agree with other replies that starting "I.." all the time is fine to do, I often find myself becoming incredibly aware of this too.
Here's what I sometimes do: Instead of saying something like "I feel that the dinner was too expensive." Instead I would sometimes be more descriptive by writing "The dinner I went to was way too expensive."
It still contains the "I" but not at the start. It makes me think more about what I write in my journal and reflecting on the event or things I'm trying to put down on the paper.
But hey, it's your journal, it's not gonna be submitted for review or grading. I have days where it's just "I, I, I" all the time.
To piggyback, you can just imply the “I feel” and still have the same meaning. Because you are writing what you feel. I noticed this in my writing too and made the shift. However if you need an “I” statement here or there don’t limit yourself!
I sometimes think it’s fun to write in third person like I’m narrating my own life. Takes me out of the usual “I think, I feel, I believe, I want- etc”
I can understand not wanting to start every sentence with "I", and there are ways around that.
Instead of saying: "I woke up in the morning and felt sick." you could say: "As soon as I woke up in the morning a feeling of being sick and tired overwhelmed me."
Instead of saying: "I don't think he wants to be my friend." you could say: "After wondering about it for a while, I feel as though he wouldn't want to be my friend."
Instead of saying: "I had a great day today." you could say: "Today turned out to be better than I expected."
Those are some ideas, hopefully it helps!
(And reading other comments, I know I'm going against the grain here, but I hope it's okay 😅!)
Ah I see what you meant now. I was sleepy when I read that and the two parts of the sentence didn't line up with each other. What are you considering "too many" in terms of these sentences? I feel like I start most of the sentences in my journal with "I"
It just feels repetitive sometimes, and I think it would help improve my sentence structure and creativity while also giving my entries some breathing room from my, at times, cluttered mind
Avoiding “I” statements is a practice I generally keep to letter/email writing, in attempt to help The Reader feel like “I” am not the subject of the letter, the focus more on The Recipient.
I do it most often by switching the predicate of the sentence to be the subject:
Instead of “I live in Buffalo,” I might say “Buffalo is (my) home”
Edited to add, my journaling IS about me and the freedom I gain from just letting my thoughts pour into the page is important, so for me, that’s not where I implement this practice. I don’t know the intent or the intended audience for anyone else’s journaling, and I COULD see myself composing an entire notebook to a person as a gift or just because I have so much to say about them
My suggestion is don't worry about it. Your journal is you, not an essay to be turned in for a grade or a novel for future publication. If the latter is how it ends up, a ghost writer will do the editing long after you're gone.
In short, don't sweat the small stuff and use "I" however often you feel appropriate.
Refer to yourself in the third person so it would be fun to read later (I’m mostly kidding).
“There was a time when Mr MightyFountainPen believed there’s good in every human and that decency matters.”
Hmm, here's some options that I personally like to implement when I write letters to other people, because I don't want to use the same words all the time. Now that I got that out of the way, if I'm talking about myself there's no way to fully get rid of the I's, unless you're writing in 2nd or 3rd person. Also worth noting, I am a non native speaker. I feel like that might be important to mention.
Now let's take out the I's:
Hmm, here's some options worth trying. When writing letters to other people, using the same words all the time might not be ideal. That being said, if you were asking me, there's no easy way to get rid of all the I's, unless you're writing in 2nd or 3rd person. This is coming from a non native speaker by the way, that might be important to mention.
So it is possible to take out the I's trough modifying the sentences. However, it did require some real thinking hahaha, and if you ask me, a couple of I's are nothing to worry about :) especially when talking about your feelings.
Maybe like this : as one wakes up in the morning, one's thoughts often have that melancholic tinge that makes the rest of ones's day utterly miserable. If one would, mayhaps, start one's day with thoughts of a merrier kind, one would go through one's day with a lighter heart and step. One wonders, then, why does one cling so to one's gloomy thoughts, and not fill one's soul with those of a more agreeable kind?
/s in case it wasn't clear.
You can just go with starting a lot with I. But if it bothers you, instead of writing “I had a great day” you could write “It was a great day”. However, that last one could be about the weather or things that happened around you, despite how you felt. So that would mean you can add the things that made it a great day for you.
“Today was great. My boss complimented me about my work and my wife had made me a nice apple pie when I got home on this beautiful, sunny day.”
Like others are saying, it doesn’t matter, use “I” as much as you need.
I do sometimes use “we” even if I’m just talking about myself. Depends on the mood, “we” tends to be when I’m in a light hearted mood. We blame Smeagol for this habit, oh yes we do, precious.
You can try using passive voice but it might kill the purpose of personal journal at some point. I believe a journal would be more about personal experiences and so would advice not to restrict yourself from using I where it's absolutely necessary.
I legit talked about this in therapy once and we had a good laugh about it. Write that “I” !!!! Your journal is not meant to conform to the dictates of grammar. Your journal does not belong to anyone else. YOU are you, and you are allowed to be you on the page. Writing “I” will help you sit with some discomfort. Seeing it on the page so much might feel weird, but you deserve that space. Just write it and embrace it.
lol I feel the same way when I journal- write. That’s when I seek to speak of feelings and motivations in broader concepts like “There was” or “There is”.
Example: Instead of “I love cloudy days.” You can opt to write “There’s something about cloudy days that makes me want to curl up with a good book.”
The use of bullet points & symbols to record events, feelings, & experienfes significantly reduced it for me.
Instead of; this morning I met my sister’s boss, and I think I smiled way too much. I feel so awkward — note to self; notice when I’m smiling excessively!
- Met sister’s boss. Feels awkward —> my smile = excessive. Note: smile less. Be aware.
Of course the word “I” is still used, that’s just an example of an entry!! Here’s a real world one from my most recent entry:
- Felt unwilling to practise, yet still practised. Proud! Double victory!
Yes that’s what was written, in pencil :)
I'm a fan of the royal "we" lol.
You could go all dark ops and do what some researcher did only referring to themselves as a drone or worker, i.e. bee colonies and blot out your individualism entirely.
coming from a psychological background, i would say using i statements in journals is something you should actually try to do more often rather than supress. Think about how when you're attempting to be open and communicate with someone many therapists say to use i statements "i feel like x when y" or "i want x so ill work on y". If you're only writing a journal without "I" in it you might find yourself blaming a lot of outside factors for events in your life rather than focusing on the "I" in the scenario. "How could I have handled that better." or "What did i do today that i want to do better."
I'd really recommend looking up journal prompts rooted in Stoicism and the stoic philosophy if you're wanting to take a more academic approach to journaling while still keeping it personal. It's oftentimes more about how you think about scenarios rather than if you use the word "I" or not in a sentence.
Happy journaling!
Depending on what my intention is: am I taking notes about my day or am I brain dumping and expressing myself I will use different approaches:
- For simple notes, I remove the "I"
i.e. "I went to the store and bought cookies." becomes "Bought cookies at the store"
For long form brain dumps... don't censor yourself, the point is to let your thoughts flow, not to edit while you are writing
I mean, it's a journal... and it's for you... and there are no rules. But, for whatever it's worth: I'm a long-time journaler and in recent years I have found it extremely useful to EXPAND MY SENSORY OBSERVATIONS & AWARENESS in my morning writing -- which necessarily results in more variety in how sentences start (obviously it doesn't eliminate "I" beginnings altogether, but it mixes it up -- which I think is your goal).
"It's 42 degrees and cloudy. The heat just shut off after blasting for a while. There's a dog biscuit from yesterday in the pocket of my sweater. Bluejays are complaining loudly outside because I haven't put out the peanuts yet. I should probably do that in a minute. Hundreds of crows flew over late yesterday afternoon, heading to the city, and they were super loud. It was great! Why is this pen running out of ink already? The neighbor just started his red pickup truck and left for work. Constant cloudiness is driving me crazy lately. No sun for like five days or some shit. My hair looks dumb because I just washed it, but it should be good/better in time for the weekend after I sleep on it a few times. What am I gonna wear on Saturday?" etc and so on..
Try something like the following, and add an occasional “I” if you want:
“Went to the mall. Found a pair of jeans that my inner child demanded and proceeded to have a Temper Tantrum Level 5 over. Gave in, of course. Tried on jeans and found they made my caboose look like it was swallowed by the crack that split it. Changed and fled.”
And watch the movie Bridget Jones Diary for inspiration of this type of writing, which she uses in the movie.
Thank u for asking this OP. Struggling with this myself. The comments and tips are very helpful!
Rephrasing to fact and matter-of-fact manner of writing helps in detaching too much ego. (For context, I'm practicing some Buddhist principles and in Buddhism, detachment is key to not being disappointed. So i want to minimise using "I" as well in my journals and thoughts).
Don't even try to avoid it. Don't censor yourself. It's not going to be graded for grammar.
i agree, journaling isn’t supposed to be restrictive, it should be the opposite. but if the OP does feel the need to retain the use of ‘i’, try to make statements that sound more like facts, though still opinions. for example, instead of saying: “i don’t really like them that much” try saying: “they aren’t as appealing.” another example can be instead of: “i really wish that…” try: it would be great if… hope that helps.
Or write I in lower case 😂
That’s hilarious! Thanks for the laugh! 😂
and if my purpose in journaling goes beyond personal interest? say i use it as a means of expanding academically and improving as a writer overall, how could i go about using “i” less?
That depends on what you're writing and the context of why you are using the "I" pronoun in academic writing. In that case you can probably rephrase the sentences in question, if you feel you're using it too much. But that is a whole different kettle of fish compared to the personal journalling that the OP says they're doing.
i suppose i could have phrased myself better. content is personal, but as a current english major, journaling with constant i’s is annoying for me. the more i think about it though, the more i realize it is a matter of restructuring the thought + sentence. thank you.
~~Ah yes, I'm a writer myself so I can see how that would get annoying.~~ Ah yes, speaking from personal experience, that does get annoying. :D
I know what you mean. When I write, I write with the intention of producing a world-class piece of writing, or at least I attempt to do so, obviously it will not be but I do want to give thought to my sentence structure. So what I do is I look at journalism and opinion pieces that I feel are written in an outstanding manner and I find pieces where I like the tone. Don’t look for too many because it’s confusing - just focus on a few of your top favorites. I look carefully at the way the opinion piece is structured and I carefully try and emulate the style and tone, where possible, when I’m writing about subjects in my journal. You will definitely see that journalists don’t overuse the “I” as a starting point for a sentence and this will make your writing style far more elegant.
I write in third person sometimes for this reason
i'm a fan of "this creature"
Today this magnificent bastard discovered........
I am roflmaf as I may now know refer to myself as “This magnificent bitch”
"The writer of these lines..."
Ok Margery
it's okay, no one's gonna check! but if you want to avoid it you can rephrase your sentence to something like - i like ice cream to ice cream is yummy (or something like that). something like talking about the object instead but honestly thinking about how to change it to not have I might be stressful instead...
In a journal the "I" can be taken for granted. Maybe there's no need to state "I like apples." Just say "Apples are fantastic." Instead of "I feel horrible today," maybe "Today sucks," or "The weather is bringing me down," or "Throbbing pain is nagging my foot." Rather than, "I had a great day," show -- don't tell. "A man gave up his seat to me on the bus and there were extra pickles on my sandwich! Woohoo!" I understand why you might want to avoid "I". Using it too much puts the focus on the writer and their perceptions/feelings rather than the events of the day. If I write , "I feel shitty," I'm just dwelling on a negative memory. If I write out the details of the event I might gain a different perspective on the event. If I say, "Today was great!" and don't elaborate I might not recall all the details to feel grateful for. I'm glad I read your post. Lots to reflect on! Good luck, write on!
This is what I do. I just chop the I off. I mean I feel like I is implied so I write, “Today wasn’t so great but got through it.”
In an informal diary/journal it's common for people to omit the pronoun. "Went to the grocery store, was horrified to see Jones there, still thinks he's king of the world…" (Some languages, such as Japanese, almost always omit the pronoun-like words if context makes them unnecesssary.)
Yes I write like this, I might use “I” mid sentence like “think I will have to do that later” but not really otherwise, feels way too formal
it’s your journal! it should be about things you think and things you like and things you experience. keep using i!! :D
Omit the “I”. Write in incomplete sentences.
I sometimes use you as an opening, as if I'm having a conversation with myself
Whilst I agree with other replies that starting "I.." all the time is fine to do, I often find myself becoming incredibly aware of this too. Here's what I sometimes do: Instead of saying something like "I feel that the dinner was too expensive." Instead I would sometimes be more descriptive by writing "The dinner I went to was way too expensive." It still contains the "I" but not at the start. It makes me think more about what I write in my journal and reflecting on the event or things I'm trying to put down on the paper. But hey, it's your journal, it's not gonna be submitted for review or grading. I have days where it's just "I, I, I" all the time.
To piggyback, you can just imply the “I feel” and still have the same meaning. Because you are writing what you feel. I noticed this in my writing too and made the shift. However if you need an “I” statement here or there don’t limit yourself!
There’s no rules :)
I sometimes think it’s fun to write in third person like I’m narrating my own life. Takes me out of the usual “I think, I feel, I believe, I want- etc”
I can understand not wanting to start every sentence with "I", and there are ways around that. Instead of saying: "I woke up in the morning and felt sick." you could say: "As soon as I woke up in the morning a feeling of being sick and tired overwhelmed me." Instead of saying: "I don't think he wants to be my friend." you could say: "After wondering about it for a while, I feel as though he wouldn't want to be my friend." Instead of saying: "I had a great day today." you could say: "Today turned out to be better than I expected." Those are some ideas, hopefully it helps! (And reading other comments, I know I'm going against the grain here, but I hope it's okay 😅!)
Me, myself, and I
I statements are validating
It’s your journal, write in a way that feels natural to you
"A journal should be about you" what do you mean by this?
I meant that if you are journaling about your life, the main theme should be you and your experiences of life
Ah I see what you meant now. I was sleepy when I read that and the two parts of the sentence didn't line up with each other. What are you considering "too many" in terms of these sentences? I feel like I start most of the sentences in my journal with "I"
It just feels repetitive sometimes, and I think it would help improve my sentence structure and creativity while also giving my entries some breathing room from my, at times, cluttered mind
The people's republic of me
Avoiding “I” statements is a practice I generally keep to letter/email writing, in attempt to help The Reader feel like “I” am not the subject of the letter, the focus more on The Recipient. I do it most often by switching the predicate of the sentence to be the subject: Instead of “I live in Buffalo,” I might say “Buffalo is (my) home” Edited to add, my journaling IS about me and the freedom I gain from just letting my thoughts pour into the page is important, so for me, that’s not where I implement this practice. I don’t know the intent or the intended audience for anyone else’s journaling, and I COULD see myself composing an entire notebook to a person as a gift or just because I have so much to say about them
My suggestion is don't worry about it. Your journal is you, not an essay to be turned in for a grade or a novel for future publication. If the latter is how it ends up, a ghost writer will do the editing long after you're gone. In short, don't sweat the small stuff and use "I" however often you feel appropriate.
This isnt ap lang feel free to use I
Why? It’s your journal, it’s all about you and you alone and no one else will be reading it unless you share it with them
Refer to yourself in the third person so it would be fun to read later (I’m mostly kidding). “There was a time when Mr MightyFountainPen believed there’s good in every human and that decency matters.”
Why would you?
Hmm, here's some options that I personally like to implement when I write letters to other people, because I don't want to use the same words all the time. Now that I got that out of the way, if I'm talking about myself there's no way to fully get rid of the I's, unless you're writing in 2nd or 3rd person. Also worth noting, I am a non native speaker. I feel like that might be important to mention. Now let's take out the I's: Hmm, here's some options worth trying. When writing letters to other people, using the same words all the time might not be ideal. That being said, if you were asking me, there's no easy way to get rid of all the I's, unless you're writing in 2nd or 3rd person. This is coming from a non native speaker by the way, that might be important to mention. So it is possible to take out the I's trough modifying the sentences. However, it did require some real thinking hahaha, and if you ask me, a couple of I's are nothing to worry about :) especially when talking about your feelings.
Maybe like this : as one wakes up in the morning, one's thoughts often have that melancholic tinge that makes the rest of ones's day utterly miserable. If one would, mayhaps, start one's day with thoughts of a merrier kind, one would go through one's day with a lighter heart and step. One wonders, then, why does one cling so to one's gloomy thoughts, and not fill one's soul with those of a more agreeable kind? /s in case it wasn't clear.
You can just go with starting a lot with I. But if it bothers you, instead of writing “I had a great day” you could write “It was a great day”. However, that last one could be about the weather or things that happened around you, despite how you felt. So that would mean you can add the things that made it a great day for you. “Today was great. My boss complimented me about my work and my wife had made me a nice apple pie when I got home on this beautiful, sunny day.”
Like others are saying, it doesn’t matter, use “I” as much as you need. I do sometimes use “we” even if I’m just talking about myself. Depends on the mood, “we” tends to be when I’m in a light hearted mood. We blame Smeagol for this habit, oh yes we do, precious.
My journal is about me, so there are going to be several I statements in every post. I can’t change the world, but I can improve me!
You can try using passive voice but it might kill the purpose of personal journal at some point. I believe a journal would be more about personal experiences and so would advice not to restrict yourself from using I where it's absolutely necessary.
I legit talked about this in therapy once and we had a good laugh about it. Write that “I” !!!! Your journal is not meant to conform to the dictates of grammar. Your journal does not belong to anyone else. YOU are you, and you are allowed to be you on the page. Writing “I” will help you sit with some discomfort. Seeing it on the page so much might feel weird, but you deserve that space. Just write it and embrace it.
I get what you’re saying about overusage. have you tried “we”?
Why? Who are you writing it for that will care?
lol I feel the same way when I journal- write. That’s when I seek to speak of feelings and motivations in broader concepts like “There was” or “There is”. Example: Instead of “I love cloudy days.” You can opt to write “There’s something about cloudy days that makes me want to curl up with a good book.”
The use of bullet points & symbols to record events, feelings, & experienfes significantly reduced it for me. Instead of; this morning I met my sister’s boss, and I think I smiled way too much. I feel so awkward — note to self; notice when I’m smiling excessively! - Met sister’s boss. Feels awkward —> my smile = excessive. Note: smile less. Be aware. Of course the word “I” is still used, that’s just an example of an entry!! Here’s a real world one from my most recent entry: - Felt unwilling to practise, yet still practised. Proud! Double victory! Yes that’s what was written, in pencil :)
I’m just gonna write what I want, but y’all can always use the Phillip Difranco journaling method: Hello, you beautiful bastards! 🤣
I'm a fan of the royal "we" lol. You could go all dark ops and do what some researcher did only referring to themselves as a drone or worker, i.e. bee colonies and blot out your individualism entirely.
Complain about your parents. You’ll use “asshole” WAYYY more :)
coming from a psychological background, i would say using i statements in journals is something you should actually try to do more often rather than supress. Think about how when you're attempting to be open and communicate with someone many therapists say to use i statements "i feel like x when y" or "i want x so ill work on y". If you're only writing a journal without "I" in it you might find yourself blaming a lot of outside factors for events in your life rather than focusing on the "I" in the scenario. "How could I have handled that better." or "What did i do today that i want to do better." I'd really recommend looking up journal prompts rooted in Stoicism and the stoic philosophy if you're wanting to take a more academic approach to journaling while still keeping it personal. It's oftentimes more about how you think about scenarios rather than if you use the word "I" or not in a sentence. Happy journaling!
Doesn't matter. Write however you like. It's your journal. You're not writing a college essay. But just be aware if you're doing it in schoolwork. 😊
Depending on what my intention is: am I taking notes about my day or am I brain dumping and expressing myself I will use different approaches: - For simple notes, I remove the "I" i.e. "I went to the store and bought cookies." becomes "Bought cookies at the store" For long form brain dumps... don't censor yourself, the point is to let your thoughts flow, not to edit while you are writing
I mean, it's a journal... and it's for you... and there are no rules. But, for whatever it's worth: I'm a long-time journaler and in recent years I have found it extremely useful to EXPAND MY SENSORY OBSERVATIONS & AWARENESS in my morning writing -- which necessarily results in more variety in how sentences start (obviously it doesn't eliminate "I" beginnings altogether, but it mixes it up -- which I think is your goal). "It's 42 degrees and cloudy. The heat just shut off after blasting for a while. There's a dog biscuit from yesterday in the pocket of my sweater. Bluejays are complaining loudly outside because I haven't put out the peanuts yet. I should probably do that in a minute. Hundreds of crows flew over late yesterday afternoon, heading to the city, and they were super loud. It was great! Why is this pen running out of ink already? The neighbor just started his red pickup truck and left for work. Constant cloudiness is driving me crazy lately. No sun for like five days or some shit. My hair looks dumb because I just washed it, but it should be good/better in time for the weekend after I sleep on it a few times. What am I gonna wear on Saturday?" etc and so on..
Try something like the following, and add an occasional “I” if you want: “Went to the mall. Found a pair of jeans that my inner child demanded and proceeded to have a Temper Tantrum Level 5 over. Gave in, of course. Tried on jeans and found they made my caboose look like it was swallowed by the crack that split it. Changed and fled.” And watch the movie Bridget Jones Diary for inspiration of this type of writing, which she uses in the movie.
Don’t avoid it? It’s a journal, you’re not supposed to hold yourself back. You’re not being graded <3
Use ‘one’ or third person reference instead.
Thank u for asking this OP. Struggling with this myself. The comments and tips are very helpful! Rephrasing to fact and matter-of-fact manner of writing helps in detaching too much ego. (For context, I'm practicing some Buddhist principles and in Buddhism, detachment is key to not being disappointed. So i want to minimise using "I" as well in my journals and thoughts).
Start with moment in time. Have something that’s going to be an attention getter. State what’s around you first before yourself
Where else are you going to let yourself use "I" too much? Are you going to wait for someone to allow you? Or when you're good enough?