25 Aug, 2026

I write about journaling a lot, since it’s honestly my most important practice.

In my most recent post on the subject I made the case that active recall is an effective way to remember things, whether that be ideas, thoughts, or events. I'd like to expand on that post and make the case that journaling extends life perception.

To wax philosophical for a moment: long life perception and long lifespan are, when it comes down to it, effectively the same thing. If we live in the infinite now, then the only thing separating an actual long life from the perception of a long life is perception.

This intuitively makes sense, and you've likely experienced this yourself. Years that are filled with novelty tend to feel longer and are more memorable than years of consistently similar days. It's partly why time feels so much longer as a child, since all experiences are fairly novel and there's explicit progression though the different phases of school, which stands in stark contrast to, say, a few years of working the same job and rarely taking vacation or trying anything new. Those few years can easily condense into a handful of memories, and so the perception of those years is fairly short.

Regularly in conversation the person I'm talking to will say something along the lines of "Wow, it's August already!? Time flies.". I rarely share this sentiment (with the exception of the pandemic, where all my days effectively became one), and I ascribe this to two main reasons:

The first reason is that I try to do new things as much as possible. Just last night I played ultimate frisbee for the first time on the beach at sunset with a good friend and his crew of (really athletic) frisbros. I was pretty bad at the game and fumbled the frisbee too many times, but after the beautiful sunset and a dip in the cold ocean to clear off the sand I felt great, and I'll likely remember this experience as it punctuated normal life.

The second reason, and this is the underlying point I'm trying to make with this post, is that I write about my day while journaling, and in-so-doing remember it better. And since I remember these experiences it doesn't feel like time is slipping away from me. Instead it feels like time is rich and full. Yes, it's August, but I feel like it's been 2026 forever.

The research on active recall improving memory is clear. The research on life perception is less clear, but intuitively it makes sense that remembering more of your life will make it feel longer and hopefully richer.

There are many reasons to journal, but I feel this is a lesser discussed effect of journaling, and one I'm only starting to appreciate now.