In the wake of pandemic-related quarantine, Deanna Fullerton has since shifted her hobby of journaling into a full-time job.
While Deanna technically works from home as an administrative assistant, her journaling practice has now eclipsed all other endeavors in her life.
“At first it started as a way to process it all and a routine to start the day,” she explains, “But now journaling is sort of a way to give validity to all of my thoughts now that I no longer have people around to bounce them off of.”
Today alone, Fullerton has journaled about her lunchtime hunger, what it might mean, what she eventually decided to eat and why, and how this all ties back to her childhood, wrapping up promptly at 6 pm.
“I feel like I’m really working through a lot,” she says. “Like the other day I was re-watching Gilmore Girls and I had to pause it to journal about whether I may have had a latent sexual attraction to Lorelei growing up. Four hours later, it was time for a lunch break.”
After several more hours of journaling, Fullerton ultimately realized that there was no attraction.
“But still, I was able to unpack some things there,” she says. “And it really raised some questions about why I’m still watching that show.”
Fullerton has no plans to discontinue the journaling practice, at least not until she makes some major insight into why she’s become so drawn to the process.
“Also, I want to reread all of my journals at some point. I think that could be really clarifying.”
