Dear Diary…
“She will become a doctor one day”, laughed my family members when they were unable to decipher my hand writing. Yes, growing up my hand writing was bad. Why it was bad, is a different story. This story is about when I started improving my handwriting.
One summer, I was forced to focus on improving my handwriting, and practice was the only key to do it. I grabbed a paper and pen, ready to write, but what should I write?
It was my summer holidays and I definitely didn’t want to write anything from my school books. After thinking for some time, I started writing -“Hello, My name is Alisha Jain. I am in Atkinson Higher Secondary School. My Father’s name is….”
After naming all my family and friends, I wrote about the food I ate and things I did that day. A few days later, I was bored with the monotony of the practice so to make my practice sessions interesting, I spilled out my most confidential secrets on paper. The things I never shared with anyone. I was aware that I created access to my vulnerabilities but also made sure nobody reaches it. Everyday after my writing practice, I looked around to see if there is anyone watching me. When I was confident enough that there was no one around, I hid the book in a bag and hid the bag in the trolley under the deewan. My precious!
Then came the inevitable day when my sister found my diary and read my secrets secretly while I was away. Later during our play, with a smirk on her face, she mentioned something I wrote in the book. Realising she read my journal, I ripped the pages of it. This incident made me so furious that I stopped journaling all together.
A few years ago, I felt the need to start journaling again. Being aware of the consequences of writing in a book, this time I made sure that nobody gets access to my journal. Luckily, online journals came to existence and I instantly started using it. It was such a relief to be able to put out my thoughts without any prying eyes.
The process of journaling is very therapeutic and in this blog I will discuss all about journaling.
Why Journal?
An overthinker with a billion thoughts simultaneously running in the head or someone with very few thoughts of their own and struggling to know their own self, Journaling helps in keeping you sane. When you write down your thoughts, that is when you can visualize and understand more about what you think. Journaling helps you untangle the speghetti of your thoughts. Seeing your thoughts in words will paint a picture of yourself and give you the clarity you need.
Often times, we put a filter on our mouth while talking to someone. There are things you want to say but you can’t speak them out loud without offending someone or hurting their feelings. Or there are things which you just cannot share with anyone for some reason. These things get bottled up inside and an overflow of this bottle can affect your mental health. You need to empty that bottle. Hence, Journaling is the dump yard.
There comes a time in your life when you feel low and question yourself on the purpose of your life. You look at the success of others and feel like you haven’t accomplished anything. When we are surrounded with negative thoughts, our brain is too occupied to retrieve the memory of positive things that happened in our life. In such a time, reflecting back into the past through your journal will definitely help you find something that can lift up your morale.
This brings us to the next question.
When to Journal?
Should you write daily? weekly? monthly? When to journal?
There’s only one correct answer – write whenever you feel like. There is no rule to journaling. Write whenever you want to pour out your thoughts. Write when you are happy, write when you are sad, write when you are angry, write whenever you feel like it and write like no one’s watching, because no one is watching. You don’t have to worry about the language, the grammar, the spellings. The only person who needs to understand it is you.
If you think writing is hard work(which it is), start with writing one liners. Make brief notes. You need not elaborate on it but write enough that when you read it, you can recollect the entire incident.
It can be your achievements(especially the little ones), or things that brought you joy. It can be a small act of charity, an attempt to learn something new, an instance of failure at something you excel(important to keep your pride in check) or a simple joy of having biryani with your favorite person at your favorite restaurant on a random day. If you have nothing, it’s an indication for you to do something which adds meaning to life. These are the signs that you are living.
I maintain two journals, one where I write in detail and the other for one-liners. I often re-read the one-liners to see how little I need to be happy, and how I managed to accomplish things I never thought I will. It has really helped me to a great extent.
Where to Journal?
There are a lot of pretty tempting journals available in the market, some including locks as well(for obvious reasons). And then there are a lot of web and mobile journal apps also available to choose from. These are more convenient as you can access them anytime, anywhere. Choose whichever medium you are comfortable with.
I prefer writing the one-liners in a small book and an online app to journal in detail. I carry the book with me always, ready to scribble on it but mostly to re-read it.
Your journal is the space where you get to know your own self by being vulnerable. Take time to talk to yourself through journaling. Untangle your thoughts. Do it as often as possible.
Happy Journaling!