During quarantine, I opened my drawer and discovered all of my past journals from my childhood. I read through each of them and was fascinated to see how my thoughts changed over time. You can always go through old photos and remind yourself of old memories, but you can never truly go back in time. Reading these old journals made me feel connected to a younger me in a way that I hadn’t felt before. It was a feeling of comfort knowing that everything I read was straight from my thoughts as a child. After this, I decided I wanted to start journaling again, so I went to Daiso, bought a plain blue journal, and just let my pen flow to the beat of my thoughts. I wrote about my feelings, my insecurities, my obsession with Twilight, my gratitude, and many more random topics. When I was done with filling up each page, I went and bought another journal to start over.
One of the biggest misconceptions about journaling is that there are rules for it. People assume you should write about the events of your day every night, but these “rules” are what make journaling seem more like a chore. Giving myself the freedom to write whatever I simply felt like allowed me to look forward to journaling.
While I have less time than I did during quarantine to journal, I still continue to write in my journal and have completed four journals since quarantine. Journaling has helped me relax my mind during stressful times and feel more connected with myself. It’s a great habit that I think every teenager should try out.
matcha for the mind 