By Ashabi
Life as a human can be very demanding, overwhelming, filled with emotional upheavals, moments of joy, sorrow, peace, struggles, etc and one way many people, especially those who love to be organized, navigate their daily lives, is to keep a daily log of their experiences in their journals and diaries. Plans, aims, visions, thoughts are also recorded. For some that's what helps their mental health, for some that's how they organize their steps towards an aim, for some that's how they keep track of their growth, development, etc. As a student you may really want to embrace the habit of journaling.
However, one thing about journaling is the challenge of consistency. Many people find themselves struggling with being consistent with journaling their daily experiences. While some face this challenge because of their busy schedule, for some the only obstacle is their laziness or procrastinating habit or lack of motivation, etc. Journaling is a therapeutic activity. This makes it one of those habits people should embrace.
You probably told someone you were feeling overwhelmed and they advised you to get a journal to unburden your mind or you read somewhere that journaling is good for self reflection. So, you bought yourself one of those fancy and nice looking journals or maybe someone gifted you a journal or you got a journaling app. You wrote in it for two or three days a couple of months ago and since then you haven’t opened it, not to talk of filling it up with words. It’s probably somewhere sitting pretty in your room or phone waiting for the day you remember it or get the courage to write it in it again. Well, it is okay. I am not here to judge you but help. You've made a good decision to start journaling. So, here are some tips to help become consistent in journaling and get the best out of it, most especially as a student.
Remember why you chose to journal -
Remember those moments of joy, anger, frustration, sorrow that served as motivation to keep a daily record of your life. Remember those personal growth plans, those financial pursuits, goals and aims you set that required you to keep a track of the progresses you've made on them in a journal. A recollection of your initial reason to journal can serve as motivation to journal when you feel laszy or lacking motivation. Also remember how it felt to have written down those experiences, progress tracker. This can also serve as a motivation for consistency.
No pressure -
Don’t pressure yourself to write first thing in the morning or at night before you sleep. Let it come natural to you. There are already a thousand things that are putting us under pressure as students and honestly, we don’t need more. Just have it at the back of your mind, choose to be serious about it and realise how important journaling is to your mental health and overall well-being as a student and human. Unless you strive on routine, then by all means, set a time for it.
Be willing to be vulnerable -
Lets face it, writing can be hard, writing down your feelings is harder. It’s probably one of the reasons you don’t do it regularly but it’s worth it. Journaling will push us to face our fears, admit our flaws, faults and problems that we will rather not admit to. It’s like a mirror, shadowing the deepest parts of our soul. IT IS SCARY! VERY SCARY but it’s good for us. Very good. It helps to self reflect and understand ourselves, especially as growing youths. So yeah, be vulnerable with your journal for your own growth.
All in all, start small; it doesn’t have to be perfect; write whatever comes to your mind; use journaling prompts; get inspired with quotes - Every advice you have ever read or been told about starting a habit, apply it to journaling- Put pen to paper, let your hand and mind lead you to writing, drawing or scribbling. Maybe even singing, who cares?, It doesn’t really matter. Just express yourself to yourself, again and again.
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