I have never been the kind of person who keeps a diary so this was an interesting challenge for me to take on. I wanted to start this because I use writing as a form of self-care and I wanted to start writing a bit every day. I was a little unsure of where to start until I found THIS journal. It has space to write one line every day for 5 whole years, so it’s basically a paper version of Timehop. The only rule I followed for this challenge was that I had to write something every day before midnight.
Here’s what I learned from writing in a journal every day:
Days 1 & 2:
I am feeling a little skeptical about this. I love writing but I have never actively kept a diary before.Part of me feels silly for writing down the mundane details of my day. It’s not like I need to actively keep a record of when I miss my dog (spoiler alert it’s every day).
Days 3 & 4:
It’s only day 3 and I am already struggling to write something down on time. This is why my New Year’s resolutions were all over by January 2nd. Mondays and Tuesdays are the busiest days of my week so it was actually nice to take a minute to reflect. I definitely think that only having to write one line makes keeping this journal doable.
Days 5 & 6:
I decided to shake things up by trying to write a poem on Wednesday. On Thursday I decided to set some goals for the rest of the week. I am beginning to see how cool it will be to have this a few years from now. I like the idea of being able to see how my goals might change from year to year.
Day 7:
This was a cool experiment. Spending a few minutes every night thinking about my day and writing something down felt weird at first but now it actually feels nice. I will try to keep up with this journal for a while.
Keeping this journal is an easy way for me to practice self-care every day. It allows me to keep an accurate record of my feelings, activities, and goals. Overall this challenge was a success. I managed to write something down, even on days that were super busy, and I found that I really enjoyed doing it.
All images provided by the author