Write your heart out!
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart.”
~ William Wordsworth
Writing down our feelings in a journal is like a heart-to-heart conversation with our bestie. An avid journal writer, I sincerely believe that journals are truly our best friends — a friend with whom we can share all our thoughts, problems and feelings. Writing in a journal soothes our heart because we can let out whatever we feel, hear, see, love, or even taste. Besides being a relaxing and therapeutic hobby, journaling can also be used to organize ourselves — writing helps us to track and remember the details of our emotions.
Many people take up journal writing as a hobby because they need to write about their bad days. I started journal writing because I loved to write. I also loved to remember. Also known as diary writing, journaling has been my favourite hobby since I was 14 years old.
Diary entry, as journaling was called during the good old days, also gives us our personal space. The best part about journaling is that we are writing for ourselves. There are no rules. There is no right or wrong. You can write in your journal daily, or only when you feel the urge. You can either do it in the morning or evening. A journal is a writer’s most sacred space.
At one point, actress Emma Watson kept not one but ten personal diaries to help ‘figure herself out’. “I keep a dream diary, a yoga diary, I keep diaries on people I’ve met and things they’ve said to me, the advice they’ve given me. I keep an acting journal. I keep collage books… It allows me to get things out of my head and work them out in a way that feels safe,” she said.
Journal writing is not new — journals have been around for centuries. One might ask then, what is the purpose of journal writing? Journal writing not only enables us to clarify our thinking, work through our negative emotions and record our daily life.
Subscribe to The Teenager Today print / digital editions to read the full article.
Jubilee Cardozo is a writer, blogger and animal lover. Her articles on sports and fashion have appeared in several online and print publications. She is the Editor of Nainen - The Woman, a digital magazine for women.