December 2025 "Digital Journaling" Personal Reflection by Anne Bautista

I love personalizing things, from decorating my room to adding stickers to my laptop; so, naturally, customizing my laptop wallpaper as a newfound habit followed. It began in September 2023. I started with a wallpaper that was simple and incorporated my favorite video game character at the time, Astarion from Baldur’s Gate 3. I loved how it turned out, but then October came around, and I thought, “Well, shoot, now I want a spookier themed wallpaper” (yes, it was technically already kind of spooky with Astarion being a vampire, but I made the first one too pink and girly). And of course, as the months changed, so did the aesthetics of the seasons and my interests. I had so much fun creating different wallpapers for my laptop that I just decided to make it a habit of creating a new one each month. This tradition led me to embark on participating in other forms of digital journaling, which has helped give me a space to reflect in a form that is convenient for me and may be convenient for you as well.

Why digital?

Traditional book and pen journaling is still a great way to reflect creatively, which many prefer over digital journaling for valid reasons. It’s nice having something physical you can hold that stores your thoughts and feelings. In its physical form, you have the freedom to add physical items, such as tickets, stickers, receipts, and anything you can hold onto that stores memories. I still do physical journaling for that reason, but it has just become an easier habit for me to keep up with going digital. I struggle with commitment and perfectionism, and going digital helps with this issue. I can move bodies of text freely and add or remove stickers with ease on my laptop. Digitally, I also have access to more stickers and photos through the internet and Canva, the digital platform I use to create my journals.

How I reflect

There are essentially 3 different factors that go into the entries I make every day or every other day in my journals: my mood, my thoughts, and my actions. For my mood, I utilize a color-coding system so I can look back on the month/year to see how my mood has changed during different seasons of my life. Along with my mood, I connect my thoughts and actions, making me more mindful and aware of what affects my emotions and vice versa.

Studying psychology and counseling has helped me understand the value of journaling, and I connect my motivation to journal with the influence of cognitive behavioral therapy, which outlines this style of journaling as a way to recognize patterns and make changes to unwanted ones. The goal is to also identify possible cognitive distortions or false beliefs and reframe them into more realistic thoughts. False beliefs could include, for example, “should” statements. These statements could invoke shame of not meeting an expectation or standard we have set for ourselves. Once a statement is identified, it can then be reframed into a more realistic thought: “I should be better at this” turns into “It is my first time doing this; therefore, it will take time for me to get the hang of this.”

Some fun add-ons I include occasionally are adding a song that describes my day or is just stuck in my head. I also like adding quotes from texts, conversations, or media that stick out for me. They are just little things that give me something to reminisce about when I look back on my journal entries. It also helps bring more life to everyday moments that could be overlooked.

Mental Health

The holidays are a wonderful time to start journaling for various reasons. Journaling is great for capturing memories and documenting moments you don’t want to forget. For some, the holidays and colder days could bring joy, but for others, they could bring somber feelings. Journaling could also be a source of comfort for those affected by seasonal depression by giving you a space to reflect and explore your emotions—especially if you choose to utilize the cognitive behavioral method of journaling. It could serve as a good coping tool.

So, this December, why not try something new? Start a new habit and try your hand at journaling. If you plan on journaling digitally, there are a few platforms you could try, including Canva, Word, Google Docs, and others. No matter what platform you use, make sure to make it unique to you and have fun with it.