Learn Hardcore Indonesian: Kalau kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi, kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian. - If you are still restless after meditating, you can just write your feelings in a diary.

jika – more formal, often used in writing:
Jika kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi…
apabila – also formal/neutral:
Apabila kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi…

In everyday spoken Indonesian, kalau is the most common. In written/formal contexts, jika or apabila may sound more appropriate.

What nuance does “masih” add before “gelisah”?

Masih means “still”, indicating that the state continues:

kamu gelisah = you are restless
kamu masih gelisah = you are still restless (it was true before, and it’s true now)

So the sentence emphasizes that even after meditating, the restlessness has not yet gone away.

What is the difference between “gelisah” and words like “cemas” or “khawatir”?

All three relate to negative feelings, but with slightly different shades:

gelisah – restless, fidgety, uneasy; often a mix of mental and physical agitation.
cemas – anxious, worried; often stronger, more “anxiety-like.”
khawatir – worried/concerned about something specific.

In this context:

masih gelisah = still restless/uneasy (after meditation) If you said:
masih cemas = still anxious
masih khawatir = still worried

The original focuses more on a general uneasy, unsettled feeling, not necessarily a specific worry.

Why is it “setelah meditasi” and not “sesudah meditasi”? Are they different?

Setelah and sesudah both mean “after”, and in most contexts they are interchangeable:

setelah meditasi = after meditation
sesudah meditasi = after meditation

Differences:

setelah is slightly more common in everyday use.
sesudah may sound a bit more formal or old‑fashioned in some contexts, but it’s still perfectly correct.

You can say either one here without changing the meaning.

What does “bisa saja” mean here, and how is it different from just “bisa”?

bisa by itself = “can / are able to / may.”
bisa saja adds a nuance of “you could just…”, “you might as well…”, or “it’s perfectly fine if you…”.

So:

kamu bisa menulis perasaanmu… = you can write your feelings…
kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu… = you could just write your feelings… (suggestion, casual, reassuring; it’s one possible option)

Saja here softens the suggestion and makes it feel more like “this is simply one acceptable thing you can do.”

What exactly does the “-mu” in “perasaanmu” mean, and is it the same as “perasaan kamu”?

-mu is a second-person possessive suffix meaning “your.”

perasaan = feeling(s)
perasaanmu = your feelings

You can often say either:

perasaanmu
perasaan kamu

They usually mean the same thing. Differences:

perasaanmu feels a bit more compact and is very common in writing and speech.
perasaan kamu can give a bit more emphasis on kamu (you), but the nuance is small in everyday usage.

In this sentence, either is acceptable:

…menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.
…menulis perasaan kamu di buku harian.

Why is it “di buku harian” and not “ke buku harian”?

In Indonesian:

di = in / at / on (location)
ke = to / toward (direction)

Menulis di buku harian = write *in (inside) the diary — you are performing the action *at/in that location (the diary pages).

Menulis ke buku harian is not natural here. You’re not moving something to the diary in a directional sense; you’re writing in it, so di is correct.

What does “buku harian” literally mean, and is it the same as “diary” in English?

Literally:

buku = book
harian = daily / of the day

So buku harian = “daily book,” which corresponds to an English “diary.”

In modern Indonesian, people may also say:

diary (borrowing the English word)
jurnal (journal)

But buku harian is the standard, neutral Indonesian term for a diary.

Why is “kamu” repeated? Could I just say “Kalau masih gelisah…” and “bisa saja menulis…”?

The full sentence:

Kalau kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi, kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.

In natural spoken Indonesian, it’s very common to drop repeated subjects when they’re clear from context. So you could say:

Kalau masih gelisah setelah meditasi, kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.
(If you’re still restless after meditating, you can just write your feelings in a diary.)

You can also drop kamu in the second clause if the subject is clear:

Kalau kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi, bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.

All three versions are understandable. The original with both kamu is slightly more explicit and clear for learners.

Is “kamu” formal or informal? Could I use “Anda” here instead?

Kamu is a familiar/informal “you”, used with friends, peers, people your age, or younger.

Anda is polite/formal, often used in customer service, with strangers in formal contexts, in writing to a general reader, etc.

If you want to make the sentence more polite/formal, you can say:

Kalau Anda masih gelisah setelah meditasi, Anda bisa saja menulis perasaan Anda di buku harian.

Note: when you use Anda, you usually also use Anda for the possessive instead of -mu:

perasaan Anda (your feelings)
not perasaanmu (your feelings – informal).

Why is it “menulis perasaanmu” and not “menuliskan perasaanmu”? Are both possible?

Both menulis and menuliskan come from the root tulis (write).

menulis = to write
menuliskan = to write something (often with a focus on what is being written, or who it is written for)

In this sentence, you can say:

kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.
kamu bisa saja menuliskan perasaanmu di buku harian.

Both are grammatically correct and natural. Any difference in nuance is very slight here. Menulis is simpler and fully sufficient.

Is the comma after “meditasi” necessary, and does word order matter between the two clauses?

The sentence is:

Kalau kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi, kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian.

The comma separates the if-clause from the main clause, which is standard and helpful for readability, but in everyday informal writing/texting Indonesians might sometimes omit it.

You can also reverse the order of the clauses, like in English:

Kamu bisa saja menulis perasaanmu di buku harian kalau kamu masih gelisah setelah meditasi.

Meaning stays the same. With the “if” clause first, the comma is usually used. With the main clause first, many writers omit the comma:

Kalau…, kamu… → usually with a comma
Kamu…, kalau… → comma often dropped in practice.