I had not been journaling regularly until about a month ago when I arrived at college. Before, I chose to journal when there was a pressing issue or something occupying my mind that needed to be released onto paper. In high school, my journaling contained repeated entries about my friend group or latest developments in my love life. Yet now as I enter life on my own, my journaling has become more meaningful to who I am. The act of journaling was never an activity I craved or looked forward to doing before; it had always felt like a chore— something I knew I should be doing to release thoughts, but never something I wanted to sit down and do. When I started college, though, something changed and I realized I no longer had the endless outlets of friends and family to share in-person thoughts with like before. My journal replaced those conversations I missed and is now something I can’t go to bed without talking to.
How to start your journal
Journaling can be intimidating at first. Whether you choose to write, use voice notes or apps to type in, journaling can take any form and drive home any purpose. Journaling apps such as Day One or Diarium can be easily accessed at any moment to record a thought you don’t want to forget or quickly type an entry that would have taken longer to write. For many, this is a preferred method. The apps keep your entries password-protected and can be accessed on any device. While I have never taken to voice memos for journaling, I can see how many people would prefer to later hear themselves in their entries. Your voice has the power to share more emotions that may be able to be expressed textually.
I enjoy keeping a special notebook where I can write to myself. My current journal is a small pale-blue book, not quite pocket-side but small enough to take with me everywhere. This is not my first journal, but has become the most meaningful to me as I document this time in my life. It’s first few pages are perfect, with uniform handwriting and proper grammar. But as I’ve continue to journal daily, I’ve grown to love the lived-in nature of my journal. Recent pages aren’t perfect but neither are the entries as I navigate problem and life. My journal has become the most accurate representation of my life, the ups and downs, and how I’m learning to grow. While I’m writing, I feel as though I am letting it go, both physically and emotionally, and have found comfort in knowing my thoughts are now not just in my mind anymore, but also physically kept somewhere special.
What to write
What you want to journal about can change every day. There will always be entries that feel magical—your day was so special that not sharing it in your journal feels wrong. Other days, you have to ask yourself questions to begin your entry. In her blog “Reflections From A Redhead,” writer Janine Defontaine shares an article titled “105 Writing Prompts for Self-Reflection and Self-Discovery” with useful questions to ask yourself when beginning an entry lacking a predetermined path. Reflective questions can sometimes elicit the most meaningful reflections when you don’t know what questions to ask or things to explore.
Another type of entry I find myself writing a lot is the more sad-and-focused. As I’ve navigated my transition to college, I’ve noticed I always seem to have a problem I am solving or something I am working to overcome. There are many aspects about starting a new life that have seemed daunting at first, but as I’ve begun to journal regularly, I’ve loved looking back at my entries from a month ago. Comparing that version of myself to who I am now, I’ve realized it’s not that scary.
Journaling can be anything you want it to be. It can be something you indulge in rarely or an activity you partake in religiously, but either way, the capturing of thoughts and making time for yourself will always be a good thing.