This is my diary. I do a lot of philosophizing and meta-cognitive BS whenever I write in my diary, so I decided to call it Cogito because in Latin it means "I think" and is essentially the first half of one of philosophy's most famous phrases "Cogito ergo sum" which means "I think, therefore I am".
Cogito started for me as a way to build up my writing endurance and overall ability. I initially kept the diary private beginning in July of 2024 and up until August of 2025, I wrote numerous entries totaling to almost 100,000 words. For a long time, I thought that I didn't have the chops to write a whole lot, but this diary practice has helped me improve the speed and quality of my writing significantly.
I won't be publishing what I wrote previously, however, because I don't want to divulge too many personal details from that time. However, I feel that it is a good idea to put myself out there with this diary practice, so I will now take what I've been doing for over a year and put it online for whoever wishes to see it.
Cogito is largely an exercise in free-writing. I set a timer for 15 minutes and write continuously about whatever is on my mind until the timer stops. Sometimes if I have enough momentum I'll keep going for maybe another 5 to 10 minutes. Like I mentioned earlier, this has improved my speed and quality dramatically. But moreover, this practice has been a source of solace for me. For me, life is hard in a lot of ways, and being able to write it all down has been very helpful for me emotionally.
If you're reading this and struggle with certain things emotionally, I highly recommend starting a diary practice. For me, it's been much more helpful than medication and therapy.