Writing has always been a passion of mine, whether it's writing about my day, how I'm feeling, things I've learned, or even conveying those feelings into something more through words. Growing up, I've always had some sort of "diary" and would write down random things from when I was a child. However, I began taking my writing more seriously and keeping up with it at the start of my sophomore year of high school. I was given journals for my 16th birthday and I began following through with them ever since.

In the beginning, there were times where I didn't stick with it quite often. Progressively, as I started to experience more throughout high school and go through typical teenage dilemma's, I began keeping up with my writing. I wanted to collect these moments in writing. I felt as if documenting these moments would be sentimental and nice to look back on later in the future. There's also nothing like the authenticity of something being written down.

Today, I find myself reading through old journal entries I wrote when I was 15 and reading those entries bring me back to that exact moment and feelings I felt during that time period. Although it's surreal, I enjoy looking back and reading how much has changed along with what I've learned over time.

Not only do I write for myself, but I also write for others, specifically for my future kids I hope to have one day. When they're going through similar situations during their teenage years, I want to be able to look back on the experiences I documented and be able to guide them, along with giving them genuine advice I learned myself at their age.

Writing and journaling is also a form of an escape for me. It's an outlet where I feel most reassured and being able to jot down everything that is running through my mind is therapeutic. Recently, I looked up writing prompts on Pinterest for some inspiration and for the month of January, I kept up with a 30-day writing challenge.

During this challenge, there were prompts that were quite intriguing and actually made me reflect on things. There were nights where I spent writing at my desk in my dorm room reminiscing and becoming nostalgic over past moments.

There were also moments where I found myself becoming teary-eyed and emotional while reflecting back on certain things. These are the reason's why I journal though. When I find myself lacking motivation, feeling anxious, or even to just get thoughts going, writing becomes an outlet for me.

So if you haven't started yet, I highly suggest journaling - you won't regret it!