In my last two posts, I’ve written about journaling methods that take under 10 minutes a day, and longer journaling methods that offer deeper benefits. While writing about quick methods, I became intrigued by the idea of the One Line A Day Journal. Sure, I could go back into my visual journals or my morning pages and try to find an entry from 5 years ago, but neither of those journals are organized for easy access to historical data. I like the idea of seeing at a glance how my life has changed over 5 years. That’s why I created an online One Line A Day journal and I’m sharing the template with you.
It astonishes me how much my life has changed in the past five years. In that time, I’ve lived in 3 different states, held four different jobs, had a child graduate from high school, moved my mom from New York to live with us in Texas, and learned to play the ukulele. I wish I had a concise record of all that.
Although I document my life in various ways, none of them afforded the historical view that I wanted. Scrolling through my Facebook posts is the easiest way to quickly re-live past experiences. However, lately I’ve been disenchanted with Facebook and have largely given up posting there. I also wanted a deeper look at my life than what I would usually post online. I have several notes apps on my phone that I use a lot, but none of them have a feature that shows 5 years at a glance. Although I love my paper-based journals, I wanted something that was easy to access from anywhere and that I was unlikely to lose in 5 years. For me, that meant my One Line a Day Journal had to live on my phone.
Last week I was inspired to create an online One Line A Day Journal. I built it as a spreadsheet in Google Sheets. I have no affiliation with Google, its just a convenient app for me. It is well maintained, should be around in five years, searchable, and free to use. I built the journal for my own use, but I would like to share it with you as a thank you for reading my blog. I hope you have fun with it. Tell me how it works for you!
How to access the Free Journal
Here’s the link to my website page that describes how to access the template. You don’t have to sign up for a newsletter or leave a tip or anything. It’s completely free, no strings attached!
Dear Reader
I’ve been using this One Line A Day spreadsheet for a week now and it seems to work quite well. Contact me if you have any questions regarding how to use it. I’d love to hear your suggestions for prompts or any other ways to make it more useful.
Lyrical Thinking 