At some moment in everyone's life, we kept a diary for a length of time. It may have been for a couple of months in leather-bound notebooks we got from an expensive bookstore, years in a plastic wide ruled or maybe just a couple of days in the puppy diary that locked on the side, (to keep the boys away obviously). But keeping that journal was more important than you thought and keeping and or maybe starting a journal could be important now.
I've kept journals most of my life. I haven't kept a continuous journal for most of my life, but they exist in my bookshelf collecting dust, even the puppy dog one that locked on the side. Keeping a journal as a kid, at least for me, has helped me remember childhood. The people who I hated, the old and cringey crushes, and memories that I collected over the years.
Nowadays, I try to keep a long-running journal. I will not say what the content is about other than daily life stuff and new college experiences. But keeping a journal has helped me organize my thoughts and emotions into one collective place. The variation of free writing; where I just put pen on paper and nothing really makes sense, along with thought out writing; where I reflect on the day and put some analysis into what I'm writing about. It helps to put anxieties onto paper and work them out without having an anxiety attack which in turn, calms me down. Dr. Francisco Cruz, lead psychiatrist at Ketamine Health Centers, Florida, says that "Once journaling becomes a daily habit, the amygdala begins to register journaling as a safe zone for personal growth, healing and reflection". Basically, journaling helps make the happy goop in your brain.
So maybe this year is the year you try and start a journal. It can be as basic as writing down grocery lists and doodling, but the act of writing is still the same and the benefits are still great. Besides, those doodles and grocery lists may even transfer into full pages of writing.