My mom gifted me a journal for Christmas in 2017. I started writing in it on January 1st, 2018. I was skeptical at first. All my past attempts at journaling had lasted about a week before I got tired of finding time to write paragraphs each day. The portrayal of journaling in the media, with perfectly curated pages of bullet journals or long poetic entries, can sometimes be overwhelming. However, the journal she gave me was called a one-line-a-day journal, so it had a month and a day on the top of each page, and then four or five entry spots where I could write in the year. The entries were small, so there was not much space to write, which forced me to keep my documentation short and theoretically only include the most significant parts of each day. This low-effort system was exactly what I needed.
During my first year of writing in my journal in 2018, I was a busy high schooler, and my entries were pretty inconsistent. I would go weeks without writing and then go back and fill in random things on dates that I could remember. I wrote about events like school dances, track meets, sideways rain, and shows I was watching. I also wrote about avoiding going to church with my family, hating my job at Kmart, and having poor mental health. Even though I didn’t have an established routine for writing, there are details in my entries that I would not have remembered if I had not written them down.
The following year, 2019, was the end of my senior year of high school and the beginning of my first year at UC Davis. At this point, I began to tape little mementos on certain dates as well. When my mom and I traveled overseas for the first time that summer, I taped my plane ticket to the day we left. Movie tickets, photo strips from my prom, and notes from my family for my first birthday away from home are all held in the pages, so each year I am reminded of these moments in my life. My college application, acceptance and, move-in journey are captured in a couple of sentences throughout the 2019 entries in my journal, from stress to excitement to homesickness. Because of the format of the journal, with spaces to use it over five years, I have been able to read and remember my feelings from the entries I made exactly a year ago on each date. Reflecting on the changes I experienced in just one year encouraged me to continue to write more consistently.
2020 started great. I was finally getting used to college as I joined a club and found a job I loved. It is shocking to see how quickly everything changed. I moved back home to Humboldt to be with my family in March and started writing how many COVID-19 cases there were in our county each day. Flipping through the pages and seeing how the number of cases grew along with my anxieties reflects how terrifying this pandemic has been. Early on, just writing down basic things like the workout video I did with my mom, what I ate for breakfast, and if I managed to go to class on Zoom helped me cope with uncertainty and overall stress.
I still can barely believe it is 2021, and it’s already almost over. This year, I finally got used to living in my apartment in Davis and went back home for a few months to work before school started back in person. Looking back, the number of entries that start with “oatmeal” shows that my breakfast at least has been consistent. While not every note I have made in my journal is significant or exciting, they help me appreciate how much I have grown these past couple of years, and how my experiences have affected me. I often have a hard time remembering when something happened, or the details of situations. Having just a few sentences written down about each day helps me know that I won’t forget experiences I have had or lessons I have learned.
Journaling is not for everyone, and there are many different mediums that people use to document their lives. However, finding a way that worked for me created a constant in my life. Having a clear way to see how my life has evolved from year to year has allowed me to better appreciate my growth and who I have become.