Every year I hear at least one person vow to journal at least once a day for their New Year’s resolution. And every year I am always thinking, how does anyone have time to sit down and write every single day? Well, I eventually put that thought to action and tried to write at least one thing down every day last year, whether it just be a single word or an entire walk-through of every second of the day. Let me tell you, it changed my life!
So, on January 1, 2020, I downloaded the app Day One—I recommend this one because it has the best formatting, allowing you to write, add pictures, and categorize your journals—and started to write. My overall purpose for this new habit was to have something where I could look back on the small memories that I probably would have forgotten two years down the road. Flash forward: I accomplished this goal and was so excited to be able to look back on them until I broke my phone in November and lost every single one of my journals, so let this be a sign to upload your journals onto the Cloud or your Google Drive once a month!
Despite the unfortunate outcome where I no longer can look back on everything I wrote last year, I still believe that it was worth it in the end. Journaling allowed me to essentially take one day at a time and evaluate everything that happened during a quick span of 24 hours. Doing this allowed me to appreciate the small but important aspects of my day that meant a lot at that moment in time.
The largest impact for me was that journaling allowed me to stay in touch with my emotions during probably one of the most unexpected and overwhelming times of my life. Being a senior during the start of the pandemic was extremely tolling on not just my physical state but my mental state as well, and I bet a lot of you reading this can relate to my feelings as well! I used journaling as an outlet to vent and spill out my disappointment, anger, and confusion, allowing me to get in touch with everything that was happening around me.
Even though I cannot look back at everything that I wrote last year—honestly, it might be for the best—I have learned a lot through journaling and, I think that everyone should give it a try. Start by writing biweekly, once a week, then daily. No matter how often you do it, I can guarantee you that it is worth it, and you will hopefully find it as beneficial as I did!
PS: some of the other journaling apps I recommend are: 1 Second Everyday, Momento, and Reflectly