If you’re like me, you have either just finished studying and taking your midterms or maybe you are gearing up for a long week of studying for the ones you have to take next week. Either way, both of those times can be very stressful. You’re anxiously awaiting your grades to populate on Canvas or you’re worried about how the test is going to go in a couple of days. You may be wondering what is the best way to handle all this stress.Â
My family recently decided to move from my childhood home to a new state. Since I had been living in the same room for so long, it had been a while since I had gone through all my drawers and bins. While cleaning them out, I stumbled across some journals that I had written in middle school and the beginning of high school. I had completely forgotten that I had written them. Reading them and seeing all the emotions I was feeling during that time was really interesting. Seeing how I handled my stress then versus now was really fascinating. Being able to see your own personal growth and how much you have changed with a really weird feeling. When I read these entries, it was almost like I was reliving the moments that I had written down. I was imminently transported back to the middle school playground or that freshman-year science test. These moments are moments that I haven’t thought about at all and then suddenly I am able to remember something that felt so consuming three or five years ago is crazy.Â
This past New Years I made the resolution to journal for five minutes a day. A very low time commitment that I knew I could do. I wanted to be able to look back one day at the beginning of my time at college. The thought of one day being able to sit down and read the story of my second semester at college makes me feel so excited. Will I still be in touch with the people that I am writing about? Will that one class that I love now still be my favorite when I look back at my college experience? These are the questions that I think about when I am journaling.Â
Now, journaling isn’t just for me to remember things that happened when I was at school. I use it to help debrief my day or process the stress that I am feeling or why I am upset about something. It gives me a space to vent judgment free. It can be hard to find spaces for that today.Â
During our busy days as college students, it can be really hard to find a time that is just for us between hanging out with the people we love, going out, studying, and going to classes. If you can take just five minutes a day to write down what’s going on in your life or to write about what’s bothering you, you will feel so much relief. You will have written a story of your life that one day you can look back at and see what you were up to when you were 19, 20, 21,…Â