Journaling guide and storyteller Antoinette McDonald joins the Day One Podcast for a conversation about slowing down, paying attention, and using journaling to orient through the year ahead.
Antoinette shares insights from more than a decade of teaching journaling workshops and retreats, including the metaphors and practices that help people feel more grounded, connected, and honest with themselves, especially in seasons that feel full or uncertain. The conversation includes her “Be the Elephant” approach, inspired by the wells elephants dig, and how those ideas can translate into everyday life through writing.
This episode explores journaling as a rhythm, the importance of remembrance, and a reflective end-of-year exercise that invites listeners to write from the perspective of their future self, offering a steady place to return to as the year unfolds.
About Antoinette McDonald
Antoinette McDonald is a South Africa–based journaling guide, storyteller, and former journalist who helps people slow down, reflect deeply, and reconnect with themselves through writing. For more than a decade, she has led journaling workshops and retreats designed to support clarity, healing, and resilience in emotionally charged seasons. Through thoughtful prompts, gentle structure, and a deep love of story, she creates grounded spaces where people can name what they’re carrying, tend to what matters, and write their way forward with more steadiness and heart.
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