I have kept a journal on and off since I was a child. When I was in elementary school, my interest in journaling came about because of the Dear America and My America books which were written as a series of diary or journal entries by kids living during a particularly important part of American history. Eventually I started working my way through the Royal Diaries collections (which is where I learned about Lady of Ch’iao Kuo also known as Lady Red Bird and the amazing Angolan princess Nzingha).
As a little kid, I tried to emulate the way the dairies were set up - with recorded conversations, notes from newspapers and letters, and more details than a normal journal writer really records. Needless to say, trying to copy this style was exhausting.
Then I went to Japan.
Prior to that trip I was given this really cool journal to write about my time while traveling. My aunt and father also told me about how my grandmother always kept a travel journal and kept one on what happened every day. Wanting to be like my grandmother, I made my first attempt at keeping a travel journal.
This turned into a bit of a chore when my aunt realized my penmanship was awful and made me sit at the dining table every opening, in Japan, to practice my writing. It wasn’t the most fun activity for an 11 year old. Years later, while reading one of my grandmother’s journals, I discovered that my aunt also had bad penmanship at my age (it was her only “bad” grade in that report card) and I felt a little better about myself.
However, that first travel journal got me into the habit of keeping a journal anytime I feel like I go on an adventure. Last year, before I went on my second trip to Japan, I reread the journal and noticed two things. One, I really liked sparkly gel pens. Two, I was seriously obsessed with the food. I grew out of the first habit and haven’t lost my love of the second habit at all. Every travel journal I keep has a lengthy passage everyday about what I ate that day.
My college journal had been given to my by one of my aunts as a graduation gift. My roommate could often find me recording my thoughts every night before going to bed and it became a major part of my nightly sleep prep ritual.
Compare this to my high school journal which is filled with stories, bad poetry, some even worse drawings, and the occasional spell (clearly I knew I was a witch in high school). Honestly going through that journal is painful and some days I wish I would burn it off the face of the world, but I can’t seem to let it go.
My journal keeping habits since graduating college has varied greatly and I could go years before writing down my thoughts again. However, given the recent pandemic and quarantine, I’ve found myself writing in my journal more and more. It helps with my anxiety about COVID-19 and social distancing. It allows me to organize my thoughts around events and even record some of my weirder dreams (and boy do I have some weird dreams).
Keeping a journal might be a good idea for some people during these trying times. It doesn’t have to be fancy. I once kept an agenda beside my bed to simply write my general mood for the day. A simple spiral notebook works well or even keeping a digital journal in the notes section on your phone.
If you have kids, helping them to start a journal might help them with their writing skills and allow them a bit of privacy to express themselves while we’re all living out of each other’s pockets (just don’t read your kid’s journal - it’s a deep violation of trust - unless invited to).
In some ways this blog post is like a journal. It’s a place where I write down my thoughts and give my opinion and record what’s going on in the world. I just know that anyone on the internet can read it.
If you’re looking for something to help you through these times, try journaling. I can’t say if it’s for everyone, but I do know it’s helped me. And sometimes I laugh at what my younger self thought was important.
If you enjoyed this post, or it really pissed you off, please like share, and/or leave a comment. I love hearing from my readers and I hope y’all like hearing from me.
Until next week.
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