The "Mournal"

In history classes from junior high, I remember learning about Native American boys who would go on a vision quest as part of their turning into a man. I have a guy friend who is currently doing the same thing. Only instead of walking into the wilderness and starving until he starts to hallucinate, his learning about his inner self is coming in the form of journaling. Or as I like to call it, “The Mournal.” It’s like a journal, but for men.

This guy friend thought he had found the girl he was going to marry. After a period of dating with enough drama to be worthy of a soap opera storyline, they split up. Breakups usually take two people, and he admits to his part in it, but months later he finds out she was a terrible person (I’m passing judgment because I’m friends with him, not her). More so than originally thought and definitely more so than he was. Since then, he’s been trying to find himself. I’m not sure he’d use those exact words, but he’s taking to carrying around a journal to jot down his thoughts and posting supposedly enlightening quotes on his Facebook page.

A couple girl friends and I were talking about men journaling. Apparently one friend’s husband also journals. Since I know now two men, and zero women, who journal, I’ve officially coined the phrase “mournal.” I wasn’t so surprised at the fact that men wanted to write down their thoughts as the idea that they had thoughts to begin with. And ones that were worth writing down.

I’m listening to a book on tape right now by Dave Barry, who I think is hilarious. The book is “The Complete Guide to Guys.” For clarification, I downloaded it onto my iPod because it was the only interesting one that was available for checkout. According to Dave Barry, and most of my guy friends, the bulk of their thoughts are comprised about sports and sex. I’m curious if I was to open a mournal, is it just pages of thoughts about sports and sex? Or would there actually be profound thoughts in there? Do their entries start with “Dear Diary,” the way a 10-year old girls would? The mournal is shrouded in mystery.

As my girl friends and I were laughing about the men journaling, I had a sudden thought. Does a blog count as a journal? Had I succumbed to this journaling trend without realizing it? I didn’t want to be known as a journaler. I couldn’t even keep a diary at the age of 10. My friend’s husband who journals said this totally counts as journaling. His wife disagreed for the following reasons a) my blogs apparently tend to tell stories and not my innermost thoughts and b) apparently they’re funny. My blogs do to tend to stray towards the more obscure thoughts running through my head and rarely dig into anything too serious. Plus, I put it out there for everyone to read. That has to be the complete opposite of journaling.

Are there more guys out there who mournal? I find myself intrigued. Not only by the concept of mournaling, but what can possibly be written in those things? Someday I really hope to find out. I think.