The Magic of Journaling
Written by Alexa LoSchiavo. Graphic by Linnea Sheneman.
I’ve been journaling since I was eight years old. My mom got me a tiny blue journal covered in rhinestones and little gems, and I ran with it. It’s the best decision eight-year-old me ever made, besides the hot pink zebra striped skirt I bought around the same time. When I was younger, I mostly wrote about what I wore to class or how annoying my brothers were. But it was still an important way for me to express my feelings even then. Journaling is a way to have an outlet, a special in-between place that listens to everything you say and doesn’t get mad when you ramble for two pages about how tired you are. Journaling is a space where you can be welcomed with open arms, and it’s especially helpful when you’re becoming an adult.
As you get older, you’re expected to handle things maturely. To take time and weigh each option. To let your feelings lessen before you let them out. But sometimes that expectation lays heavy on our chests and in the years where we’re straddling the line between adulthood and teenagehood, writing out our feelings and our lives is often the best way we can express ourselves.
A lot changes when you experience the first years of adulthood, and a lot of big emotions are bound to appear. You experience your first love, your first heartbreak, the first time you go to a college party. Writing them down lets you process them and have a place to let everything out.
My first year of college, journaling was the best way to express everything I was feeling. It helped me realize that what I was feeling in the moment would not always be true. The hopeless crushes, the horrible first dates, the stress before finals, it all dissipates and you realize that your feelings, while valid and all-consuming, are fleeting. And you will be okay.
Journaling helps you think about your thinking and solve problems in a constructive way. You read things back and realize that you are an important person with important feelings and thoughts that are important to express. Journaling is what got me into writing, and it’s become such a huge part of my life. I think it’s something everyone should try once. It’s important to make time for our thoughts, to let them out and let them fade away, or else they’ll always be circling aroundin our minds. To be more present in each moment, you have to let your thoughts go, and journaling is such a great way to do that.
So, how can you get into journaling?
Honestly, there’s no one clear way. But here are some options if you want to start the magical process of journaling and see what happens!
One way to start journaling is to buy a small portable journal, preferably something that can fit in your bag or your purse. You could carry it around and jot down any thoughts you have, or you could wait for a specific time to write. You can write about your day every night or about how you feel at the end of every night. You could simply pick it up every two weeks and write about what happened. There are no rules in journaling, which is why it’s so easy and fun to do.
Some prompts that I like to use are:
- What was my favorite memory of the day?
- Who showed me so much kindness today?
- What am I grateful for?
- What do I need to get off my chest?
- What is a letter I’ll never send?
- How have things changed in my life?
The cool thing about journaling is it just starts when you write. The act of writing your thoughts down in whatever way works for you is such a calming and beautiful thing. And I recommend you all try it.
It’s a way to process how you feel and a way to look back on the past week. It’s also a way to have a beautiful living and breathing culmination of your memories, all written in paper bound with leather, for years and years and years. I’ve kept all my journals since the age of 8, and it’s so nice to look back and think about the ways I’ve changed. Journaling is a way to let yourself have freedom, to express, to create, a space to yell when you want, to wax nostalgic, to be in love. It’s a space that is open to all. It doesn’t judge your words; it just takes them willingly. Don’t we all need a space like that? To journal is to let your thoughts be free, and that’s a beautiful thing. I hope you all give it a try, if only in order to realize your thoughts deserve to be heard. They deserve to be something you write.
