Teen
I
always liked the idea of keeping a diary or a journal. I think most people do and like many, I have tried several times throughout junior high and high school to keep one. Those usually lasted a week…maybe two. A senior blog lasted a couple months...But like the other ones, I eventually stopped. So, what made this time different? To put it simply, I realized life was too precious to not record the small moments. Journaling may seem boring, or purposeless at first, but there are many benefits that come along with this daily form of writing. I started my daily life journal in March 2015, a month after I had gotten out of a poisonous relationship and harmful friendships. I needed a way to remind myself life was good, life was better than I was giving it credit for. I started writing one or two sentences every day about something “good” that had happened in my life. Even if it was something small, like a conversation with the cute boy in the lobby, or I found a new song I liked, I wrote it down. As the months went on, the sentences grew into paragraphs, and then the paragraphs turned to encompass not only the “good” things but the “important” moments from the day, even if they weren’t that great. My first journal ended up recording 436 days
326 TEEN
of my life, and words cannot describe what a blessing it is to be able to look back and read it. Journaling allows a person to record a piece of themselves in a moment. To reflect on who are you right now. The words you write on that blog, in that word document, in that spiral, are your thoughts, your emotions, your life. The human brain cannot possibly actively remember every moment. It’s just not possible. However, it can put memories into storage and it just needs a little reminder, to be able to bring it back to the forefront. Journals make this possible and help you to map out just how far you have traveled on your journey of life. I’ll be the first to admit, I’m not always proud of what I wrote in the past. Gosh, there’s a couple months from 2016 when I was a lovesick girl that makes me want to hide my face in a pillow. Why did I think that way? Hormones? Maybe so. Even though I cringe as I read back through those days, I’m glad I wrote them down. That’s who I was, and I can look back and relearn repeatedly from my memories. I can look back into my past and see, what did I do before? Did that work? Should I try something new?
FLUENTIAL MARCH / APRIL 2019
For example, at the end of my first year of graduate school in the spring of 2018, I was asked to consider applying for the Prefect position of my church Newman Group. I had never really considered it before…plus it meant a lot of work and I was enjoying just being a member. What should I do? I flipped open my journal to spring 2016 and reread my thought process of when I had been asked to consider being the Co-President at my undergrad church group. In the end, I took the same stance as I did then. I’d apply for the position, along with the other candidates, and let them discern who was the best fit for the position. If it was me, then I’d be willing to serve the community to the best of my ability. This method served me well in undergrad and thanks to being able to go back and read it, served me well in graduate school as well. But I wouldn’t have had that ability if I hadn’t kept my daily journal. But how does one keep a journal? We probably all agree that having one sounds like a great idea, but how do we keep writing for longer than two weeks? First, start small. You don’t have to write down every single tiny detail. Write down what struck you and if it’s only one or two sentences, that’s fine.