Are You Man Enough To Journal

“Writing is medicine. It is an appropriate antidote to injury. It is an appropriate companion for any difficult change.” — Julia Cameron

Back in 2011, a client gifted me The Artist’s Way, written by Julia Cameron; the book blew me away. Its conception was born from the AA’s 12-step program, embodying a theme of recovering and discovering the creative self. The book, alongside the homework tasks, sets out to establish a daily habit of writing out ‘Morning Pages’, a phrase coined by Cameron.

In layman’s terms, this means writing a stream of consciousness in longhand, over three pages, before you begin your day. Cameron asks that you endeavour to do this, as she believes this practice empowers our creative flow, along with building resistance against our inner critic.

Fast forward to lockdown, and we witnessed an influx of self-help articles and motivational podcasts advocating journalling as a tool to manage that challenging and unprecedented time. Being aware of the power of journalling myself for many years, I saw it as an exciting rebirth. Still, I naively assumed journalling to be more of a girlie thing, even back in the beginning as a Morning Pages follower. I hadn’t even considered whether men valued the benefit of writing down their thoughts and fears on pen and paper.

I decided to challenge my assumptions, and in doing so, I discovered that even hardened Rock Stars, like Nikki Sixx and Bill Wyman, journalled in and around their crazy celebrity lives.

Sixx, the co-founder of The Mötley Crüe, wrote about his descent into drug addiction; his journalling about his slump into rock bottom became The Heroin Diaries. And Wyman, the bassist in The Rolling Stones, kept a daily journal for thirty years during the height of the band’s ground-breaking career. He adapted his journal into his Autobiography: Stone Alone.

The more I dug, the more I realised that it wasn’t even as if journalling was a new phenomenon. One of the first ever diarists, recorded in the fifteenth century, was the genius Leonardo da Vinci, who was known to have filled over 5000 pages with his ideas and observations, and images.

Still, what about the everyday man; would he consider journalling as an integral part of his life?

Andy Tinch, sixty-one, an expatriate living in Odense, Denmark, was influenced by Wyman’s Stone Alone and kept a daily journal for fifteen years. His writing habit wasn’t to unlock creative potential, nor as a mental health tool. He simply enjoyed documenting the then-and-now stance in keeping hold of his diaries. Tinch explained, “It was mostly a discipline, but sometimes it was emotional; it didn’t help me grow, but it was fun to look back over previous years’ diaries to match the present date to years gone by.” Tinch was rigid on writing every day, and said, “I felt annoyed with myself if I missed a day, and so I would write double the next day.”

Amar Nath, forty-six, a lawyer from Haryana, North India, routinely journalled during his senior school years to timetable his studies, sleep pattern, and play. Sadly, his father died unexpectedly during Nath’s post-graduation. He found that his journalling helped him get through those challenging times of social and financial obligations he had abruptly inherited. “It was very difficult to handle all those [responsibilities], and my studies side by side. At that time all my writing habits saved me!”

Nath went on to create journals for all aspects of his life. And in 2012, his life turned dramatically after needing a kidney transplant. This changed his whole outlook on life. He went on to help the marginal children in his village, providing philanthropic library services, to encourage the children to study more.

Mindjournal, a British company founded by Ollie Aplin based in Brighton, UK, has become the world’s first men-only journalling brand. Their vision is to ‘...globally help men to feel happier and healthier.’ There are various journals on offer, and they have also created a signature check-in tool, interactive chapters, guided exercises, and a mood tracker to engage men to stick around to instill this innovative mental health writing psychology.

Conclusion

Emotional expression is a vital force throughout our lives and an integral part of being human, whether male or female, or however we choose to identify. The notion that men store their thoughts and feelings deeply away in a metaphoric box by bottling up their emotions has long gone. While some men may initially internalize feelings due to societal expectations, it is not a fixed characteristic. We now recognize the diversity of male emotional expression and the potential for change and growth.

Happy writing

© Chantal Weiss 2025. All Rights Reserved

*Please note that since originally writing this article in May 2022, Mindjournal is in the process of closing down. They still have journals for sale, while products last.