Selfhosted private/secure blog/journal

I am looking for self hosted blog/journal that is private by default. Not looking to host a public blog, rather something that I can write more personal entries on and is easy to read later. I want to be able to include multimedia in the entries.

Currently I'm thinking of a Mastodon server with posts set to private by default and turning off federation. It would be awesome to be able to post from my phone as events happen rather than having to find time later.

I've tried around with using IMAP and an email client, but not sold on it. Tried using a calendar, but too cludgy.

Open to other ideas!