For most of my life, the first thing I want to do whenever something amazing, joyful, heartbreaking, or gut-wrenching happens to me is write in my journal. I’ve always loved writing, and keeping a journal serves as a physical way to get your emotions out.
My mom instilled this practice in my siblings from a very young age. When my sister and I turned six or seven, she gifted us each with a faux-leather lined notebook to write about our family vacations in. From there, my journal keeping practices were largely unstoppable. I have drawers upon drawers filled to the brim in my house back home with an array of colorful notebooks chocked full of my (sometimes unreadable) handwriting.
Having this collection of journals from different periods of my life parallels time travel in many ways. I can go back to 2009, the third grade, and read about moving, making friends, and the politics of elementary school. Or 2014, when I started freshman year of high school and decided to begin running.
There are many different types of journals to keep and consider. Whether it is an everyday journal, travel journal, bullet journal, or sentence-a-day journal, everyone has a style that works for them.
I recommend starting small, maybe an entry a week, and seeing where it goes from there. I have never regretted writing down but thoughts, but I have regretted forgetting to. I have learned so much about myself by reading what I was thinking and how the dots of my life connect.
Sometimes you’re so deep into a situation and overcome with emotion that you don’t know what to do. My advice to anyone in this situation is to put it down on paper. Even if you never go back and read it or read it years later when the issue is a small dot in your past, it will help you feel better.
I know that in a few years, I will feel thankful for keeping a journal throughout college. I have grown and experienced so much. I am glad my writing is along for the ride and that I can return to these memories whenever I want to.