Journaling has really been beneficial to me. It has helped my mindset and mental health, and it just is overall super fun! I like that there are not any limits to how I write or what I am writing about. I also enjoy the fact that there is not any pressure for anyone to read it! So, it takes away stress for it to be particularly ‘good.’ And that goes for the topic, grammar and organization. I can just write and not worry about what exactly I am writing; it is just me and my thoughts. The best part about journaling is that it is customizable. You could write about anything (positive, negative and neutral), draw pictures, glue things onto the pages, color on it or simply do whatever you wish.Sometimes, it is a mix of lyrics from my favorite song, random lists, my emotions, doodles and maybe some ideas for school projects I need to brainstorm. There is some bad poetry too, but I do not want to speak about that.
I originally started journaling way back in middle school, but it didn’t stick around. I also added pressure on myself to make it perfect, which made me quickly lose motivation and lessened the helpful aspect of it.I picked the habit back up in July 2022 when I went through an anxiety spell and needed a place to put my thoughts somewhere. So, I decided to physically put them down onto paper. Turns out, it is a really great coping mechanism. All I did was grab a plain black journal from Walmart, and I have not looked back since. Once I got all my feelings jotted down, I felt very relieved to have found an outlet. I no longer had to sit around and wonder if I should ask my friends to talk about the same issues. Which helped, but it was not enough. That may be enough for some people, but some problems need multiple channels for their emotions.
I stopped throughout my entire first semester of college. I wrote the night before moving in and then began again during finals week. I wish I had those extra little moments full of memories. I wish that I would have wrote about the happy moments and my thoughts surrounding them, and then the bad ones too. It would have been a cool collection. However, I plan on changing that for this 2nd semester. To help with remembering everything and to aid me with my mental health. Many people have a fear of others reading their journal and invading their privacy. Luckily at our current age, most people are mostly mature enough. You also could hide a journal somewhere. Using a simple notebook could easily be disguised as something for school. You could also buy a bullet journal to designate for writing or even keep it all online. A Google drive file or Word document works too! Personally, journaling has benefitted me and my mental health a lot, and I want to share that little bit of knowledge. It is so versatile and helpful; I really think more people should pick up this hobby.
