Journaling

I wrote my first journal entry on 18th November 2013. It was my last day a s a 24-year-old and I wanted to bring in Year 25 with a clear state of mind. I discovered the benefits of maintaining a journal in the months to follow as this was also the time I had taken my first sabbatical. At the time, it helped me stay on track and keep focus on growth.

It wasn’t a log with details of my everyday activities. Although some entries were exactly that, my journal became a mix of something I had read, my musings, small details I wanted to remember about something/someone, my happy and not-so-happy experiences, a dialogue with myself which would help me arrive at solutions, my insecurities and a ton of other things. There was no pattern in how I wrote except that I would write quite regularly. It was my meditation! And without doubt, I can say that those months were the most productive months of self-growth that I have experienced in my adult life.

I maintained journals all through 2014 and 2015 as well. And I truly found solace in doing so. I have not been very good in 2016. My excuse has been that I get the same benefits through daily meditation and weekly musings. But that isn’t true and so I headed to Letter Note and bought myself a journal to write in 2016 and I shall begin my entries from now.

From my experience, I can say that writing does help keep the mind from losing track. It helps you review and appreciate life as it passes you by. Of course, you need to figure out what style of writing works for you- bullet points, long stories, daily logs, poems and also the medium of record keeping- physical, digital. But I can vouch that maintaining a journal has a ton of advantages.