I can see what you mean - I love the feel of my favorite pen on paper. If it weren't for my typing speed + digitization I think I'd prefer writing as well. I've also considered perhaps typing allows too much freedom for re-phrasing things while pen is more permanent - requiring a bit more thought before you get it down.
I think I like the fact that pen requires much more thought. Or, perhaps also the contrary: you don't think too much about it while writing, and you can write how you feel, without it later being edited to seem better when you're in a different mood (even if that's later in the writing). I've found that stream of conscienceness style writing is the best for me, as it allows me to more accurately reflect what I feel too. I think that having to type it would end that, and I'd be too apt to edit it later.
As for digitization, there are likely ways you could go about doing that, but I'm not sure I want my journaling to be digitized to be honest. To me, there's something about keeping it in pen-and-paper that's appealing, even though it does lead to lots of things to keep up with.
There are products that digitize pen and paper right? [1] And then there probably are products that would be able to make your handwriting searchable.
If not, you could make your own machine learning algo. as a side project and teach it to recognize your handwriting. I suppose that's a lot of work though :P
