Keeping a journal can help you to track and process your feelings through this difficult time. You can also look back at it later and see how everything turned out.
A Quarantine Journal is the same as any other journal except it’s specifically for writing during this time of quarantine, isolation and social distance. You won’t need to go out and buy anything or use any materials in particular. A Quarantine Journal might also serve as a specific place where you can get your thoughts out on paper so you don’t have to carry them. Unlike a bullet journal, a Quarantine Journal is less about planning out your life and more about catharsis, so it can be more isolated from the rest of your documents.
Here’s how to get started on a Quarantine Journal!
- Choose your materials.
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Don’t feel pressured to make artistic designs or do anything time-consuming. If the “notes” app on your phone is the easiest to click into, go for it.
Things you can do to your Quarantine Journal:
• Put pictures in there.
• Write about your day in another language, if you’re bilingual/a polyglot.
• Give it a name.
• Putting googly eyes on the cover (an idea taken from my own journal).
There is also a program called “FutureMe” which is used to email yourself letters to the future! It’s a cool way to reach out to yourself.
- Write what you want to.
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If you want to write poetry, do it! If you want to write a few sentences or two or even a few words, then that’s an equally good form of quarantine journaling. Don’t feel pressured to stay within predefined limits. A lot of us don’t have as much energy as we usually do, so don’t be too hard on yourself.
Some things you could write in your Quarantine Journal:
• What you’re grateful for that day.
• Your stresses of the day.
• Things that are entertaining you through quarantine (like Her Campus?)
• Your favorite quarantine snacks/recipes.
• Song lyrics.
• To-do lists.
• Comforting messages.
- Write when you want to.
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Days in quarantine tend to run together. You don’t need to write every day—just write when you need to get your feelings out.
These are difficult times, and writing in a journal isn’t a fix for that or a way to replace therapy/a support system. Still, writing to yourself can be a form of self care and a way to unburden yourself of some of the stress you might be facing.