Almost every person I knew growing up had kept a journal at some point in their lives. Maybe it was a friend I had at 8-years-old who's journal was a fuzzy pink notebook with a padlock covering the side. Maybe it was a friend at 16 whose journal was a simple black moleskin with a skull scratched into the front color, filled with song lyrics and angsty poetry. The point is, I've seen journals almost everywhere which proves that they're not going out of fashion anytime soon.
Having a journal might seem like a stupid thing to do, that much I do understand. What sense would it make to converse with your consciousness on paper when you already do that in your head all the time? Well, the very difference is the fact that it's on paper now, and that makes things astronomically easier to handle. After putting all of your thought in one place outside of your head and just reading it over once or twice, everything falls into perspective. At least in a theoretical sense.
Also as some famous person has probably already said: journals make the best reading material. I can say truthfully that reading journal entries from two to three years ago about my "struggles" and how "unfair my life is" always puts a smile on my face. And if not for the laughs, you can read your previous entries and see how much you've grown and in what regard. By reading what you cared about so long ago, you can see what your priorities used to be and how things have changed for the better, or if you need to backtrack just a little bit.
I'd like to also note that your journal doesn't need to be a physical object. In this age of technology, keeping things handwritten just seems like a bad idea in general. Maybe you have bad handwriting, that would make things significantly more difficult. A journal can simply be a word document on your computer that you open from time to time and just type your heart out about anything you want.
A journal also doesn't just have to be about you. If you so desire you can copy down song lyrics that give you the chills, or poems that you never thought you'd like but are actually pretty cool. You could write a movie review, reminders, keep a bucket list, a list of your favorite quotes. The list is wonderfully endless.
Final selling point, how cool would it be? Having shelves of full notebooks all about your life? Wouldn't that be amazing? An accomplishment? Maybe when you're all old and grown you can pass them on to your kid or your best friend, let them have a laugh or learn something from what you've experienced over the years. Though journals seem tacky upon initial consideration, I really think you should give it a chance; maybe it'll help you quiet the thoughts that you didn't notice are overwhelming you.
