In elementary school, I kept a diary. It was pink and had a lock and key so nobody else could open it. On the inside cover I wrote “Keep out unless you are Alex, do not read past this!!!!” I was clearly very serious and protective about my diary and made sure that no one would ever read it. This diary knew about my secret crushes or about how mad I was at one of my family members that day. Even at the age of 9 I had things I needed to vent into a little book to make me feel better, and I know a lot of people used to do that in elementary school too. There comes a point where a lot of people stop keeping those diaries, but I never stopped.

By high school, I had fallen in love with writing. I loved English class, it was my favorite part of the day and I took electives surrounding writing, like creative writing. I love sharing my feelings through poetry and stories and any other kind of writing platform. I felt like I had something to say so I kept writing and I still write in college. I have a journal of poetry I’m working on, I keep stories on my laptop, I’m taking a creative writing class, etc. Writing has helped me through the toughest of times and I am so thankful for that. It has been there for me through anger, sadness, anxiety and especially heartbreak. It’s a way to keep me afloat during times in my life where I feel like I’m drowning.

I do share my feelings with my close friends, but there is something about getting it all out on paper that brings me a sense of joy. I feel like on paper I can truly be myself. I wrote a poem for my creative writing class recently and after writing I felt this sense of relief. It was like I didn’t even know I was feeling the way I was, but after writing and just letting it all go, I felt calm and serene. Writing has helped me with my anxiety and with insane amounts of stress at school. If I’m feeling overwhelmed I take out my journal and I just let myself write and see where it takes me.

Writing is such a good way to vent and say whatever you want. Whether you write poetry, short stories, or anything, it all has the same effect. The feeling when you put your pen to paper and just write with everything you have is different than any feeling I’ve ever experienced. If you feel overwhelmingly sad, happy, angry, heartbroken, any emotion you can think of just write it all down. People go through a lot in their lives and keeping it bottled up is not healthy in a lot of cases. If you’re not the type of person to tell people your feelings or open up and even if you are, try and keep a journal. It doesn’t have to be daily, it could even be just once in a while, but create a space where you feel you can let it all go. It could really help take you somewhere you never thought possible.