As a freshman starting college, I wanted a way to collect my thoughts about crazy times and remember all the fun memories I was starting to make. So, a few days before I made the move onto campus, a friend and I from home went to Barnes & Noble, found the cutest journals we could find, and started our journaling journey. We agreed that we would write every day to jot down our thoughts and try not to forget anything so we could tell each other what happened every semester. Since starting this, I’ve learned that I absolutely love writing in my journal. Here are the five reasons I am thriving after keeping a journal for a while.
- I CAN REMEMBER SMALL DETAILS OF My DAY
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A major reason I was excited to start journaling was because I have a terrible memory. I knew I’d experience really fun things and I was scared I was going to forget about them by the next week. So, when I started writing in a journal, I made sure to include the things that didn’t seem too important at the moment because I knew I would probably want to remember them in the future. I wrote little things that I knew would remind me of other moments I experienced.
- IT HELPS Me FIGURE OUT My EMOTIONS
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As an emotional person, being able to get out all the little things I was feeling felt great. It’s almost a freeing sensation. If I didn’t want to talk to anyone about what was going on in my brain, I could always write it down and talk about it with myself. I’m never embarrassed about what I write down because I know the only person who would read what I wrote would be me if I wanted.
- IT Helps Me STAY ORGANIZED
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Journaling doesn’t just include writing down day-to-day activities and feelings. I also take note of what I need to do, what I need to get, and things I have coming up. Personally, I love making little lists in my journal. Sometimes, if I thought I would forget something coming up, like plans or a concert date, I would jot it down and remember I could look back at what I wrote to remember specific dates. As a college student, I would also write down assignments coming up and what I had to do for each of them. It made me, a very forgetful person, remember a lot more.
- NEW PEOPLE WHO COME INTO My LIFE CAN READ ABOUT My EXPERIENCES
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Something that has always seemed exciting to me about keeping a journal was the fact that I could share my journal with people I care about in the future that aren’t around now. I can’t wait for the day I can share the journals I wrote in with a significant other or even my kid in the far future. I can even picture myself handing over several journals to people I care about and letting them read the memories I made before they came into my life. Just thinking about that makes it feel worth it.
- IT’S My OWN PERSONAL TIME CAPSULE
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And lastly, I love keeping a journal because I know I can always go back, reread what I wrote, and relive the experiences I did when I made an entry. The memories I make will always live in my head, but it’s comforting to know they’ll be on paper too. I’m excited to go back and read what I was thinking when a specific thing happened knowing how it ended.
So that’s why I think everyone should start journaling. I recommend it to almost every person I meet. It’s a therapeutic and creative outlet that takes five minutes out of your day. I’ll never regret the day I started my journal and I can’t wait to see how many I’m going to end up with.