By Lillian Liebke

We go through so much in our daily lives, sometimes we can barely even remember what we did the other day. We unknowingly take advantage of those sweet and genuine moments and we forget them, until randomly having it randomly pop up in our heads one day. But imagine if you were able to say a date and be able to go back and look at what you did that day? Or week? Journaling frequently has many benefits, the main one being that you can savor your memories forever. 

I have been journaling for five years now, and it’s one of the best things I’ve ever done. I go back in my journal and I see memories of when I made the volleyball team for the first time, when my sister had her children, all my memories with my childhood boyfriends, everything that I had experienced in that time period. By frequently writing in a journal about what’s going on in my life and my emotions on the situation, I am able to go back and relive those amazing memories. Adding pictures of you, movie tickets, random drawings, literally anything you can think of makes it much more sentimental.

Though you have all those good memories saved, you still have the bad entries of course.  But with those bad entries, you get to learn from your mistakes so much easier because you remember what you did and the exact outcome. You remember how people used to treat you, how you would emotionally handle situations, which friends you had falling outs with. Yet with all of that comes learning and life lessons that are extremely valuable, and saving them for the rest of your life would give you more opportunities to reflect on your self growth and self worth.

Lastly, journaling everyday can reduce stress immensely. When you have so much going on in your daily life and you write about it, you are expressing your emotions and getting those heavy issues off your chest. Journaling everyday is recommended by thousands of psychologists. It helps you prioritize your concerns, problems, and lets you look at issues from an outside perspective when you’re reading it off a sheet of paper. 

If journaling everyday is too much of a hassle, writing a recap of your week and your feelings would make a immense difference in your mental health. Journaling helps save those nostalgic memories, and makes self reflection much easier. It can also relieve stress by being able to freely express and be open about your emotions