When doing research on That Girl, amongst her routine the journal strikes me the most. This activity is hailed as a pinnacle of Self-Care, and never left out by all the content creators who replicates That Girl’s routines upon accepting That Girl challenge.
I examined a few examples of That Girls‘ journal entries and discovered 2 traits, underneath the usual pastel Instagrammable aesthetics. First is the strong focus on a structured methodology approach to their lives (to make things manageable) – goal-oriented, functional, thus stripped of authentic introspection and candour.
Second trait I observed is the overwhelming reliance on pre-structured writing frameworks. That Girl often passionately fill in blanks left under prompts such as ‘List 3 small things you are grateful for’. I understand this kind of compartmentalisation makes writing more accessible for beginners, but in the long term it can deprive the writer of autonomy and never allow one to truly author.
We have been warned by the Houchen Li in about the decay of writing as an action to convey one’s autonomy. As a lucrative form of capitalisation, writing has widely become a business. The service is simple: By-Proxy Writing (代庖书写) – express on behalf of others, the challenging part has already been taken care of, you sit back and enjoy the readymade carthasis served to you on a plate. Slowly the autonomy of expression – thus the autonomy of thinking – will be deprived.
我非但没有激发出他人的想法，我还把他的表达粗暴占据了。
Translation: not only did I fail to invoke thinking amongst them, I also occupied their expressions rudely.
As a autonomy driven journaller of 13 years of practice, I developed an exceptional ability of introspection, incredible candour and lucidity (apologies for the lack of modesty here). This is a great source of pride and Eudaemonia in my life. My sense of being has therefore never been deprived.
In my opinion, another outcome of this epidemic decline of writing also caused another Dysdaemonic phenomenon: the decline of dignity in our languages. The slack on the strenuous Autonomous Writing (表率书写) leads to less contests against the monopoly of many so-called Millennial Vocabulary – simpler, punchier catch-phrase with corroded complexities in meaning. Again – the decline of language eventually leads to the decline of mind’s constitution and dexterity.
How can we wistle-blow at the latent danger of By-Proxy Writing, and re-introduce Autonomous Writing to the masses? How to restore (or attempt to) the dignity in our language, therefore the dignity of us? These questions are enough to prompt making.