As a first-year student at Rollins, it can be easy to feel pressured to bottle up your emotions if you don’t have the same support system you did in high school. Whether it was your girl gang, your sister, or your mom who you gossiped and vented to, it can be difficult to feel comfortable sharing your deepest thoughts with people in a new environment. That is why I am now fully invested in a hobby that also serves as an emotional release- writing.
I’ve read my fair share of articles over the past year or so praising bullet journaling and writing as a form of creative and emotional release. Although I’m definitely in support of writing and think that it indeed does deliver on some of these promises, I also firmly believe that these articles that are being circulated paint unrealistic expectations of what writing looks like for a typical student and what it does for the soul. When I started writing 4 years ago, it was mostly journaling. I thought, “If I set clear goals and expectations for myself, it will be easy to make this a habit.” The entries were rich in detail, long, and read like little narratives. Today, these writings are still some of my most prized possessions because they provided insight into my life when I was an entirely different version of myself. I wasn’t a good writer back then, but I still loved the act of doing it. The problem is that it only lasted a total of 4 days. Why? Because it was totally unrealistic! In my own experiences, if you want to begin writing for pleasure and grow a genuine love for journaling, you need to keep the following pointers in mind:
1. Don’t pressure yourself!
Your best thoughts can’t be expressed when you’re stressed out about writing. If you’re worried about it, writing is doing the opposite of what it should be doing for you- allowing you to put on paper what you cannot make sense of in your mind. Only write when you know you have enough free time, even if that means you only get a handful of good writing sessions in each month.
2. Allow yourself to be bad at it!
When I began writing, I was terrible at it. I mean really, really bad. I see the ability to write as a muscle of communication skills. You need to work on it over long periods of time to build up strength and skill. The creative inspiration you’ll feel along the way is amazing.
3. Jot down thoughts you have throughout the day.
Sometimes as I’m walking between classes or driving, a thought pops into my head about something I should write about. Instead of fleshing it out in my head, I immediately pull out my notes document or record my idea through Siri so I don’t forget it. When I do this, I don’t feel the need to hold on to my thoughts for dear life. I know they exist somewhere and I can revisit them whenever I want.
4. Step back and reminisce.
The more you write, the better you become at communicating. I mentioned above that when I began writing it was mostly journaling. These days, I still do journal, but most of my writing is free-verse poetry. Writing poetry has allowed me to articulate the bursts of emotions I experience as I go through these intense moments in my young-adult life. I don’t believe that emotions must be written down to be legitimate, but I think that writing sharpens your ability to connect with people through all channels of communication.
5. Share! But only if you’re comfortable…
One of the most intimate things you can do with someone is bring them up close and personal with your writing. Even if it’s just one person, I would encourage anyone experimenting with writing to share something with someone they trust once they feel comfortable. I’ve known too many people who keep their writing private, and the world missed out on their talent.
I have a blog on Medium (https://medium.com/@allisonvantilborgh) where I post highly inconsistent and unrelated pieces, and I run a poetry account on Instagram (@poemsbyallison) where I share short poems that I write throughout the day.