Why I Returned to Journaling And Why You Should Too

I started journaling before I even knew what it was. I must’ve been eight or nine when I received one of those little diaries with a flimsy lock for Christmas. It felt like treasure. Every day after school, I’d scribble about my friends, school, and the boy I had a crush on. It wasn’t fancy. It wasn’t structured. It wasn’t called “journaling” back then, it was just me, alone with my thoughts and a pen.

Through my childhood and teenage years, that small act of writing followed me. Whenever life got overwhelming or exciting or confusing, I turned to my journal. It became my private space to process, dream, vent, and make sense of the world.

But then came adulthood.

Marriage. Children. Work. Bills. Schedules. Responsibilities. Somewhere in all of that noise, I put my journal down, and didn’t pick it up again for fifteen years.

Fifteen years.

That’s fifteen years of life undocumented. Fifteen years where I moved forward without tracking where I had been. I can’t go back and reread how I felt when my first child was born, what I was struggling with in those early parenting years, or what dreams I quietly tucked away during that time. Those memories live only in fragments in my mind. The details are lost.

And now? I always make time for journaling.

It takes ten minutes. Sometimes less.

Just a pen and a notebook. Or, if you prefer, a simple app on your phone or computer. There’s no rulebook. You can write bullet points or pages. You can doodle or vent or list what you’re grateful for. It’s your space – pure and free.

But don’t be fooled by its simplicity.

Journaling is powerful.

• It helps you unload thoughts that weigh you down.

• It creates a record of your life you’ll cherish one day.

• It reveals patterns, what’s working and what’s not.

• It gives your dreams a voice and your goals a direction.

• It fosters self-awareness, clarity, and even healing.

When I look back at the days I’ve captured recently, I see my growth. I understand my habits better. I recognize cycles in my energy, my emotions, and my relationships. I catch myself before I repeat old mistakes. And I celebrate little wins I would’ve otherwise forgotten.

I share this not as someone who’s always had it figured out, but as someone who stopped, looked back, and realized what I lost when I stopped writing.

Don’t wait until life calms down. It won’t.

Don’t think it has to be perfect. It shouldn’t.

Don’t say you don’t have time. You do.

Start with one line. “Today I feel…” or “What I want most is…” or “Something that made me smile…”