On my 11th birthday I received a diary as one of my many gifts. Labelled with, “My Diary” in gold script across the cover and shut tight with a false lock, the bright red book wasn’t exactly winning any points for discretion. Intrigued by the idea of writing down my deepest, darkest secrets, I instantly vowed to record my thoughts on a daily basis.
Over the years I’ve kept many journals. At times I’ve gone months, or even years without so much as an entry… but I’ve always returned to the habit.
The process of keeping a journal is twofold; release and reflect. The cycle isn’t complete without both parts so if you’ve been keeping a journal forever and have never re-read what you’ve written, it’s time to change that!
Part One: The Release
For me, writing down my feelings became the perfect release. Over the years, my journal entries have saved me from picking fights with friends, announcing irrational fears, and confessing undying love to complete strangers. If proclaiming a thought to the world makes it real to everyone who hears it, writing it down makes it real only to the author. In so many cases, that’s all I needed…. to legitimize my feelings, even if only for a split second.
Part Two: Reflection
The release provided by writing my thoughts down is undeniably helpful, but the reflection phase is even more cathartic. It may take months, or even years… but nearly every entry has given me insight into another situation in my life.
A journal is like a friend who knows you better than you know yourself. Or perhaps it’s like an extension of yourself that speaks with clarity. I’ve read pieces of my life on pages and hardly recognized my own thoughts. It’s almost as though it came from someone else entirely. Someone who at times may have overreacted and overanalyzed! Nonetheless, my own writing has often helped me see the bigger picture. True to the, “this too shall pass” sentiment when I read the thoughts of a heartbroken teenager, or a terrified 20 year old, I take some comfort in how huge those problems seemed at the time, and how very far away they are now. There are also moments of reflection on truly important things… things that still matter today as much as they did then. Revisiting those memories on paper somehow gives me the strength I need to deal with the continued fallout they’ve caused, and the courage to accept the fact that I don’t have to have it all figured out today.
The Zuf Truth 