If there is one thing that colleges cannot get enough of, it’s writing. Students write so much that if they combine everything they wrote over their four years of college into one book they’ll make War and Peace look like a chapter book for first graders. After writing a ton of small assignments, essays, and exams, students are tired of writing so much. So it seems ignorant of me to suggest that people, especially college students, should be writing more, but I’m going to suggest it anyway. Yes, we write a lot, but we always write about something else. We never write about ourselves besides that one crappy personal essay we wrote five years ago (and that wasn’t even in college!) And while it’s frustrating to think that our professors don’t care about how our day went or why we like the color blue so much or why we don’t like Jojo Siwa anymore, I say we do something about it. I have a solution to how we can write about ourselves more. Sure, it’s more writing, but this is a way to make you love writing again. To remind you that writing is more than just getting graded or trying to explain what antistethimines are (Actually, if anyone knows what those are, can you tell me?) I present to you, the diary.
I know what you’re thinking: “why would I waste my time on some cliche diary?” Well, my darling reader, I present to you three reasons why you’re not wasting your time by writing in a diary.
- You can do whatever you want with it. In my diary, all of my pieces are poems. And who’s going to stop me? No one! It’s my diary and I can do what I want with it! And you can do what you want with your diary too! You can write entire essays about your life, draw pictures, or even put Dora the Explorer stickers all over the pages. Anything to get your feelings out. And it doesn’t stop there. You can break it apart and turn it into a creative project, hang it up against your wall, or even throw it in your swimming pool (I don’t why you would do that, but who am I to stop you?) Once again, it’s your own diary. No one can tell you what to do with it, so do what you want! The possibilities are endless!
- It can be completely private. Now, if some people want to share what they wrote/drew/destroyed with others, that’s fine too! But the true allure of a diary is that you can hide it from people. No one has to know that you have a diary unless you want them too. That means you can write/draw/destroy anything you want in that little notebook. You could write about why you love crocheting so much, why parrots are underappreciated, or how Dave does not belong in your biology class. And you don’t have to share it with anyone. Live out your writing fantasies in your diary because you can. Without any eyes watching, who is going to judge you? Enjoy your privacy sister. You deserve it.
- You have the opportunity to write about yourself. I mentioned before that most of our writing assignments in college are about something else. We don’t get to talk about ourselves that often. But with a diary, we can rant about ourselves with no limits. Fill pages and pages with stories about you knowing that your diary hears every word. Obviously it can’t respond, but I think that’s why it’s such a good listener. It just listens to you rant about you. That’s the main reason why I believe college students should write in diaries. It’s a great place to express yourself. Find or reaffirm your identity. Even just talk about tacos. We all want someone to hear us, and a diary does just that. You deserve to be heard, and I know sometimes a notebook isn’t a preferred listener, but in my opinion, it’s the best one.
There you have it folks, three reasons why you should get a diary. I hope you know that your voice matters and you have a right to express it in the way you want. While I write poems, you can have a completely different expression than me, and that is okay. All forms are valid. And all is welcome in the diary.