New year, new you! Just kidding, I won’t be that cliche. But in all seriousness, it’s a brand new year, and a lot of people seem to have resolutions about trying to journal regularly. I have really simple advice for those people: do it. Journaling is the biggest stress reliever, creative outlet, and memory keeper there could be. Writing in a journal is so much more than just writing about how your day went or what funny thing your friend said at lunch. It’s a place for you.

1. It’s healthy.

Unfortunately we can’t freeze time; we keep growing older and it doesn’t stop. Life only seems to get crazier and crazier and it can feel like there is no time for a break. This is why journaling is so important; it’s a release. By taking just ten minutes out of your day to jot down your thoughts and what’s bothering you, you can feel infinitely better. It lets you take out your frustrations in a productive way. You can let go of all the little things that seem to keep piling up and just get those negative thoughts out of your head, and onto paper.

2. It will allow you to be creative.

You have a blank piece of paper in front of you. The beauty of it, is that you can create whatever you want. Want to write a story? Go for it. Did you and your friends do something crazy? Don’t forget it, write it down. Have you been spending too much time on tumblr (like me) and want to doodle your artsy heart out? The world is your oyster. Blank pages await for you to turn them into something amazing. Color, draw, doodle, write, practice your signature, it’s yours.

3. It’s a record of your life.

Journaling allows you to keep a detailed record of all of the little things you experience growing up. You get to write about your life from a perspective that is uniquely yours. As time passes, you will be able to look back at your entries and remember those events and how you really felt about them. We often think to ourselves, “I don’t need to write that down, I’ll remember it.” More likely than not, you won’t. Journaling provides a personal timeline of your memories and how you felt about them. It gives you a clear picture of times you may have long forgotten. Plus, your future self will thank you for it.

4. It will help you reflect.

Through our experiences and choices, we change a lot, and we’re meant to. Whether we want to change aspects of our lives or not, journaling helps us reflect on what really happens. When I look back at my old journals, I read entries and think, “I can’t believe I did or said that.” It shows us how much we’ve changed and grown; and not because people said we did, but because our own personal evidence is there. If you are working towards a goal, journaling helps you keep track. You can see where you’ve started and work your way through the motions. Look where you started and look where you are now. There’s progress, growth, successes and failures, all things that help you become a better you.

5. It’s for you and no one else.

We all know about those first week of class essays that teachers assign saying, “tell me about yourself.” We can write and write about lots of fun stories or our interests forever, but the problem lies in the fact that we can’t really be 100% genuine because it’s being looked at by an authority figure. You can’t exactly talk about how someone made you really mad, or how you freaked out because your crush said hi to you. Your journal is for you and you only (unless you do decide to share it, which is totally cool too). It is a safe and free space where your swirling thoughts can be set free, and you can say whatever you want.