Have you ever told someone something or overshared too much of your life and thought, “oh my god why on earth did I just do that?”
Yeah. Been there, done that.
When I was in the fifth grade, I had a friend that I would tell everything to. All my secrets, my opinions, basically everything you needed to know about me and more. Come to find out, she was telling everyone… everything.
Heartbroken and frustrated, I turned to journaling. The universal way of spilling the beans without anyone finding out the beans have been spilt. It was my own “Burn Book,” a place that I knew was a way to dish any thoughts I had without anyone to judge.
Of course, when I was younger, my journal entries went a little like, “today I wore a red shirt because Alex likes red and OH MY GOD math is hard”. Whereas now, being a nineteen-year-old college girl, my journal entries are a lot longer and filled with much more than why they decided to add letters to math. Bottom line is, having a place that was all mine didn’t leave any space for anyone’s judgement or opinions.
It gave me the room to vent and look back on to see how far I’ve grown as a person both inside and out. Having a place to jot down ideas, feelings, a funny joke I saw, or even drawing the emotions I was feeling at the time has allowed me to grow in more ways than I could’ve ever imagined.
My journal became one of the first things that was really mine and mine only. Of course, I’ve owned my own things before, but nothing that really made me feel validated or like my thoughts truly mattered. It’s almost like talking to myself, but not in an antisocial, I collect toenails in my garage kind of way. But rather, “organizing the many thoughts in my head in one spot” kind of way.
I think the main stigma behind journaling is that people feel embarrassed to have a “diary,” or think because they don’t like writing that they can’t still write down how they feel. Ultimately it’s just a place for you to talk and not have to edit a version of yourself for others. Waking up in the morning and implementing writing in my life has shown there’s a possibility for growth, change, and proof that not all forms of writing are as brutal as that five-page essay in economics you’re avoiding.
Getting in tune with my spirituality was also the biggest positive of having a journal. Manifesting different goals and putting it all on paper to track how far you’ve grown and what you once wanted in life, then seeing it come to be is quite motivating.
It almost becomes real when you write it out, like a grocery or a to-do list, eventually, everything written down gets bought or done. Similar enough, journaling is a prime way to write down goals and manifestations to accomplish those goals and become the person you want to be.
The best part is, there’s no pressure to write a specific thing, use proper grammar, or hold anything back because it’s you. YOUR thoughts. YOUR emotions. It’s completely up to YOU!