Around this time last year I started manually entering my tweets, facebook statuses, select quotes from dayone entries, etc into Obsidian and used Dataview to generate an “on this day” table view for them. Say today is 18th of August I would use my twitter archive and various “on this day” functionality on different platforms to pull out stuff I posted on the 18th of August of different years going back in time. I don’t have the skills to use APIs or scripts, hence the tedious process. Because of the effort it takes I wasn’t consistent about it, skipping some days and some time this year I stopped doing it completely. I just needed to go one full 365-day round, then update it as I go through new years, but I didn’t manage to complete it.
I also wanted to keep a relatively casual attitude with Obsidian. I have never successfully used a note-taking app for more than a few days. I felt like if I made the process too tedious I would more likely fall off the bandwagon than not. On the other hand if I only used Obsidian whenever I felt like it, I would also stop using it because there isn’t an ingrained routine. So I set up some fields to enter daily that would take less than a minute:
Basically all the fields above are automatically generated except for:
- dayone: the subject of my dayone entry which I write every morning as morning pages, then I link it directly to the entry in dayone
- mood: I use an emoji to describe my mode
- score: score of the day – I don’t really have a system so this is more of an intuitive score
- body: emoji representing the condition of my body using red, orange, yellow and green squares
- covid-neg: days since I turned covid negative. I enter this manually everyday because I don’t know if I can set it to auto-count from the previous day’s entry. I track this in case I get some new symptoms or get reinfected. It also helps me to track exercise milestones post-covid so I can have a rough gauge if I was back to my previous fitness level (the answer is no).
I also track food I eat, blood pressure, glucose, in another section. This is because I regularly get weird symptoms like elevated heart rate spontaneously (thanks covid) so I need to go back in time to see what may have triggered it.
With some of the data above I generate a dataview that allows me to see a snapshot of my recent condition:
Sometimes every day just feels the same so it can be helpful to see things on a longer timeline. I have a note that generates a similar view for a much longer period so I can notice the trends.
This simple daily note habit has helped me to keep an ongoing relationship with Obsidian. Some days I just enter the bare minimum using the data fields I set up, other days I post a time log of my day. I also try to note down anything notable that happened, or even changes I’d made to my Obsidian setup. The key for myself is not to obsess over it, instead I trust that it will form its own shape over time. I think it will be interesting to come back to my daily notes in future.
The density and quality of the note is interesting in itself. I am usually in a relatively good state if I am capable of making the effort to record a variety of stuff. The lack of density usually indicates a period of depression (or I’m travelling), even if I am not consciously aware of it.
When I am depressed, I give up on everything. Except for posting my weekly post on this blog, I guess.
So a few days ago when I started a new daily note as usual I noticed the data I entered this time last year started showing up on my “on this day” section:
I had not realised I’ve been using Obsidian for more than a year. It was insightful and amusing to see some of the stuff I had posted over the years:
everyday I’m like: tomorrow will be the day I embark on my new exercise routine
– twitter, Aug 16, 2017
This is particularly funny yet provoking because my 2017 self would not be able to imagine my current self now. These days I have to convince myself to take rest days so I would not burn out. I had almost forgotten how hard and long it took me back then.
Falling sick, though really unpleasant, always put things into perspective for me. How much I value my health, my simple ability to sit here and type this – how much we tend to take things for granted.
– facebook, Aug 16, 2012
This was written way back in 2012 (okay tbh 2012 doesn’t feel that way back to me), back then I already had such a sobering view of health. It is also reminding my current self that even there seems to be plenty of things I cannot do, I am thankful that on top of still being able to sit here and type, I am still able to write something like this – something that requires a fair amount of concentration and coherence – today.
Sometimes the value of the inane things we do today may only reveal itself in the future. I am someone who has a narrow view of myself – because my brain is wired this way – so it is very helpful to have a wider sense of who I was, who I am, and who I may become. I often feel stuck in myself, like I have always been this way. But looking back at myself over the years I know this is not entirely true. Some things remain the same, some others become radically different. Maybe the things that feel difficult and impossible now will be something I’ll laugh over in a few years.
For me this is why it is worthwhile to keep recording our selves, whether we post it publicly or not. I used to post so many of my thoughts online, and they are useful to me now because they are retrievable. I tend not to record my on-going thoughts privately much, which is something I am attempting to correct.
Maybe this is an autistic thing: to collect data so I can understand myself better. Some people may prefer ambiguity. Ambiguity is dangerous for me because my brain tends to fill up ambiguity with depressing content. I need data to tell me I am not the person I think I am, and I am the person I didn’t think I can become.
I think note-taking is a leap of faith. It feels like we’re never going to come back to the notes we’ve written, but we wouldn’t know what our future selves may need to seek. When I was entering my data last year I felt like I was being too obsessive for the lack of a better word. But this year when I wasn’t expecting to encounter it, my past selves were a source of strength and comfort.
I guess I’ll go back to entering my past “on this day” data when incomplete days come up.