I am so thankful for the few times I sat down in high school and wrote about a day or an event that impacted me, whether it was positive OR negative. My greatest regret, even through the first half of college, is not writing more.
There is something that you can get from writing, whether it be by hand in a special notebook or typing away on a blank Pages doc on your laptop. Getting your thoughts out of your head and onto a page that you can read can do wonders. It can help you gain clarity from an event, organize your thoughts, sort out your emotions, or allow you relive a time you can only keep replaying in your head. When we take the time to write down our thoughts, let our emotions out, or record an event we want to live in forever, we are doing our future selves a huge service.
When I reread some of the things I wrote many years ago, I see how much I have grown as a person. Not just in my writing style, but in the way I view events, the way I respond to different circumstances, and the person I have grown into. I am reminded of all the blessings I have, and all the things I have overcome. My writing reminds me that I am the way I am today because of all the things that have happened in my past.
If there is one thing I can encourage you to do today, it is to buy a notebook or download an app on your laptop (I liked Day One) and write. Write notes to your future self, make a list of things you want to accomplish and hold yourself accountable, write down thoughts that are weighing on your heart, let your emotions run on the page rather than rampage through your mind. Once a week. That's all it takes. Once a week, write about something - anything - you want. Because one day, many years from now, you will want to relive that night, or reflect on those thoughts, or look back on the good times or the bad times. Your writing doesn't have to be perfect because, for once in your life, this is something that is only for you.
Make it your goal to write, to journal, to type something for YOU once this week, and every week that follows it. Your future self will thank you.
