Why I Keep a Journal (and Why You Should Start!)

Samantha Cherveny, Editor-in-Chief|August 26, 2018

My whole life, my emotions have gotten me in trouble.

 

At five, I innocently listened as my first grade teacher scolded me for using my “playground voice” in the classroom. At 17, I not-so-innocently half-listened as my 11th grade teacher more than scolded me for “screaming” out an answer and “disrupting the class” after getting “too excited.”

 

Trust me, it has been a lifelong struggle.

 

But, fortunately for me (and my teachers), all that changed about two months ago when, on the first day of June, I found an outlet– a judgement-free, completely confidential forum to unleash all my emotions that I, admittedly, rather unsuccessfully attempted to refrain. A trustworthy companion that allowed me to confess my deepest fears, my dorkiest desires and my most daunting questions. An escape. A release.

 

A journal.

 

Something clicked. Suddenly my emotions– which previously seemed so sporadic and irrepressible– became just that, emotions. It was almost as if physically writing them down gave me some sort of ownership over them; they didn’t seem so unmanageable anymore.

 

Below are my top 12 reasons why I choose to keep a journal– I comprised them in the hope they might reach someone who just needs something to click:

 

  • Each new page is a clean slate, a fresh start
  • It allows me to clear my often extremely unclear mind
  • No topic is off limits
  • It sparks my creativity
  • I learn more about myself– both in writing and in re-reading
  • It’s always there
  • The hard parts of life seem less so when they’re written down
  • It’s safe
  • I can store my favorite quotes and song lyrics all in the same place
  • It doesn’t let me forget the good when I’m feeling particularly bad
  • I get to pretend I’m Emily Dickinson or Joan Didion
  • When I write, I let go

 

To reiterate, journals are judgment-free– you don’t have to relate to suffering authors and poets to write about your emotions, you don’t have to live an insanely interesting life to record your day-to-day activities, you don’t even have to like writing to journal.

 

As long as you have something to write in, something to write with, and something to write about, you can (and should!) start. After all, in the words of Sylvia Plath, “Everything in life is writable about if you have the outgoing guts to do it.”

 

So, pick up a pen, muster up some courage and start writing.