A Journaling Platform

I want to build a journaling platform that helps people with emotional wellness and connection. But why a journaling platform?

From an early age, I always knew I was different from everyone else. I was consciously aware of my own thoughts and feelings. I was not like other kids who had ambitions of being doctors, lawyers or astronauts. At that time I didn’t know there was a name for it, an entrepreneur. But I always thought of creating something that would make an impactful change in our world.

Growing up in a toxic environment didn’t go exactly well with my ambitions. I suffered tremendously from the psychological abuse and my perception about my own abilities deteriorated. I’d wasted time battling mental health issues and fighting addictions when I should’ve been focusing on my dreams.

Then one day, came a benefactor. He knew of my struggles and asked if I’d thought of creating a product around my story. At that moment, everything clicked. My whole life has been centred around watching others and myself struggle with mental health. Yet, with a burning passion to create change, it had never occurred to me that I should build something to fix the problem. A problem that I resonate with and others who were like myself.

I’ve always been reserved about my feelings. I never felt like burdening others with my emotional baggage. So I turned to journaling. It started with a diary when I was 9 and moved to a notes application on my phone. Allowing myself to write about my feelings helped me re-organise them and understand myself better. It was my safe space.

Eventually came the dark age of social media. None were tailored specifically to host a large body of text for journaling. Those were created for people to look glamorous. People only showed you what they wanted you to see. Most people end up developing mental health issues and feel trapped because a judgement-free system has yet to exist. Society started creating unrealistic expectations on just about everything. From the way you look, to the lifestyle you’re living, even to who you’re dating. That itself is enough to create the pressure to be a perfect being. And it made people forget that we’re only human. To be human, is to feel.

Reddit is a good example for people using anonymous profiles to share their feelings in various communities. Most leverage it to vent their thoughts and seek advice or validation from strangers. I myself have turned to Reddit to seek comfort from others who faced similar situations. Some stories have positively impacted me as mine have done for others. It’s the feeling of receiving emotional support and building connections out of your best or worst situations from strangers. It’s the ability to feel seen in a sea of strangers and understanding that you’re not alone. It’s a good system, but people still don’t feel safe. It’s evident because many users begin their post with “I’m using a throw-away account”. This signifies that users don’t feel comfortable enough.

Society has made it sound abnormal to feel a certain way. Reddit simply isn’t built for mental health wellness albeit its anonymity features. Everyone uses it as a journal because they know it’s where everyone else dumps their emotional feelings too. We need a platform that advocates for mental health. To normalize having struggles and help people realise that we are only human. Our feelings matter more than we think and we deserve a safe space to talk about it.

My vision for this journaling platform is to create a safe digital space for people to emotionally connect through journaling. Journaling our thoughts would reveal an unfiltered and raw version of ourselves. Through reading what others might be feeling, it heals the societal belief that everyone is flawless. With our world being digitized today and advancements in technology, this platform can revolutionise the way mental health is being viewed or treated.