I started journaling 15 minutes a day for 6 months, this is what happened.

My high school English teacher encouraged all the students in the class to journal daily and said, “if you do, you will get rid of your writer’s block.”

I took that to heart and started writing that evening. I still remember sitting in front of my computer, opening a microsoft word document, and started typing. I enjoyed the sensation of my finger hitting the keys. Watching the words appear on a blank page. Do you know what I was writing? I was writing, “my teacher told me start journaling today…” The instruction that my teacher gave me was - keep on writing, just put your thoughts on paper. Don’t worry about grammar. There will be time for that. There will be time for editing. Just get used to having your thoughts show up on paper. Train your brain to put your thoughts on paper.

I journaled and blogged on and off through out my life. At times, life got really busy, and I abandoned the habit. More recently, I gave up on the habit during the COVID 19 pandemic. I was too worried and anxious to journal regularly.

Over the summer, about 6 months ago. I decided to bring back my journaling habit. I started with just 15 minutes a day. At the beginning, it was surely a struggle. I find myself writing a lot of non-sense. I was writing about not knowing what to write to what I had for breakfast. That lasted for about a week before I start writing about the things I dream about. Then I included what I think will happen today. I wrote about the fear of my plan being forced to change because of work situations that came up and is beyond my control. I also write down my dreams. I write about anything, anything that my brain come up with, and I just go for it.

The more I write, the more I have to write. I started with just a few hundred words in 15 minutes, and now, I am nearing a thousand word in one sitting. I started off with just writing in the morning, and now, I write in the morning and throughout the day. I became more aware of my emotions, the situations that triggered these emotions, and I process my feelings and thoughts on paper. I write down prayer items and pray for the items I listed at the end of the 15 minutes. I write about the conversations I have with my team member, and my feelings associated with the conversations. I was more aware of who I am.

Through journaling, I find myself planning out my day. There were many times where I just write down all the events I have scheduled today. I begin to write about my fears in those events as well as what I hope will happen in those conversations. I wrote down my prayers and as well as my gratitudes. Through journaling, I start to find what I want to write about. I start planning out my day, which made me more organized. I had room to process my emotion, which helped me to regulate my emotion better. Many entries of this journal came from my private journal With so many benefits about journaling, I would like to continue to journal, and perhaps increase my time spent on jouranling slightly and stretch myself. i would like to see what I will be journaling about in the next six months.