Don't just begin a journal. Finish one.
One of the most rewarding things about keeping a diary is not just writing in it daily and figuring out your voice. It is seeing that journal through to the its last lined page. It's a lovely process, and I'll tell you why.
1. Seeing the pages dwindle
Even if the diary that you purchase has 200 pages in it, the day its cover closes on the last page will eventually come. It will be filled with your words, days, stories, and life. Because of that, it's bittersweet to see it come to an end, and it will be tempting to end the journal on an optimistic note since there will be no more pen meeting paper. Yeah, that journal and you have been on a journey. Every entry is addressed as if it shall be read by an actual person, but hey, you are your first and most important audience after all.
2. Improving and loving your handwriting
When I was in third grade, my teacher asked me if I wanted to be a doctor. I was confused because the question had no lead-up. When I re-told the tale to my mom, she said my teacher was trying to tell me that I had bad handwriting. No hard feelings. After almost eight years of writing in journals, I now love seeing what my hand can do with a pen.
3. Becoming a better writer
Referring to diaries as journals is strategic. Back in the day, diaries were not cool, but journals were sophisticated. When my seventh grade English teacher asked me if I kept a diary in front of my entire class, I was tempted to say no. However, she qualified her question and said it was because my writing assignments read as if I kept a journal. That meant that the writing I did was on its way to being on point. As Sr. Emily always says, "practice makes better."
4. Essentially creating tangible chapters of your life
Typing and maintaing a blog is a fun process. The clicks that the keyboard produces makes it feel as if something is really being accomplished, and the flow is easy to enter from there. However, the impermanence of the internet cautions me to not rely fully on websites I cannot physically touch. Although there are Facebook albums and YouTube uploads and the Cloud, I still worry that one day those websites will shut down and all of the information will be lost. While a diary could also be lost in a fire or somehow damaged, let's assume that probably will not happen. A journal is a piece of writing and sometimes drawings created entirely by a person who has thoughts that are begging to be written. It is yours forever. Past, present, and future diaries are actual chapters that can be held. It is a series, and the author is you.
5. It is a record of who you are, who you used to be, where you are going, and where you have gone.
It's for when you forget and need to be reminded. Even if events are long gone and many things have altered, I still read my past entries with the same emotions that I had when I wrote them. Someone did something cute in 2011? It still gets a smile.
6. To pass it on.
To whomever it is bequeathed, they'll be able to relate to your emotions, if not your entire stories. When I imagine placing all of my journals in a box and giving them to someone, it is always to a daughter. I see her reading them as she enters the same grades that I have passed through and perhaps recognizing herself in some of the situations she'll read over.
7. It is your voice.
All the empowerment you need arises through your own words. When you forget to believe in the strength of language and yourself, the finished journal will be there for you to open and enter the tale of *insert name here* all over again.
