I recall a time when I was 5 or 6 years old, when I kept a diary to record my personal feelings and events of each day. A couple of months ago I actually found this diary and chuckled at the small things that I thought were important. Of course times change, and I no longer find an importance in whether I'll ever be able to add 50 to 43.

Being in college can be such an overwhelming experience, so when I found a journal during a casual trip to Home Goods one day, I knew I could start journaling again. I sat down that night and let everything out like word vomit.

This journal was similar to a therapist in that I was able to share my thoughts and feelings with someone who couldn't judge me. Of course I have friends and family to speak to about anything and everything, but being in my own head was a nice change. It was a therapeutic experience whenever I sat to write.

For a couple of weeks I was journaling daily and I loved it. I love to write -- especially when I can relate to the material. Journaling was the ultimate relatable material for me.

I've kept diaries and journals before, but they never quite stuck around. Now I believe I stopped because I didn't realize the power that reading back my thoughts has. My word vomit for the day brought me clarity that I had not experienced before.

The thoughts that stream through your mind can be random, and often confusing. You can think of one thing and forget it in the next second. Whether that idea was important or not does not matter; being able to record your thoughts and emotions can aid in remembering this.

Writing is a thought process with journaling, just like many other writings. You start with the one thing that you deem most important, and it branches out to different possibilities and outcomes. I'm one to overthink a situation to death, but seeing the different possibilities of any given situation relieves me.

When your possibilities are laid out in front of you, your decision becomes easier.

Not only did journaling help me make decisions much more easily, but I understood my feelings more. Feelings rush into me, and I often act on them out of impulse. Writing everything down about my day helped me interpret these feelings and pinpoint their origin.

I not only gained satisfaction from documenting my day-to-day life, but I gained understanding of the one person in my life that I wished to understand best -- and that person is me.