by Sambridhi Pandey

My hands slowly begin hurting as I am trying to finish the last few sentences on my “journal” while my eyes start clouding up and I cannot see clearly anymore. In the silence of the night, all I can hear is this prominent sound created from fiction; the pen against the paper when a pang of a sharp pain passing somewhere inside reminds me how difficult the past few months had been. Yet also reminding me, I was there…still there…breathing through another day.

Writing has always helped me revive through heartbreaks; both big and small. It has been an essential part of my human existence and a reliable source of contentment. Through times, when I needed a friend and didn’t have one, the paper and pen always came in handy to save the day.

Journaling, I realized, allows me to reflect, have a conversation with myself and look at situations through a new set of eyes.

The process is almost therapeutic as I begin flowing in with the words…stumbling into new perspectives and derivations from a situation that wouldn’t have otherwise occurred to me in a real time scenario.

Whether the moments are of sheer joy, gratitude or remorse, journaling blends into all the molds.

On occasions, it also plays the role of a time machine, meaning you can literally transport to a specific day or period in your life to revisit the memories, the emotions that come to life each time you go through the pages reminiscing the moments exactly the way they were.

As a good point of entry towards the journey of self-discovery, journaling lets you know yourself better, you begin understanding what makes you tick and what makes your heart sink as you write down. It’s almost like seeing yourself as a third person and really comprehending the inner workings while being detached and unbiased about situations.

I do not get to write in my journal daily and I don’t plan on logging the day-to-day mundane entries into it either. I am not super keen on tracking every hour or day of my life or what I ate for breakfast or lunch, although sometimes, that adds value too. I’d rather jump to the point and talk about things that need talking and attention. As a matter of fact, my journal entries are very intense. They are mostly monologues, where I talk myself out of a difficult phase, give myself more courage and hope to keep going.

It’s not always about stormy days though, I also make time to count my blessings and note down tiniest instances of coincidences, miracles, or my versions of “signs from the universe”, if you will. The entries are what I feel and what I think, they are mere mirrors of separate versions of me, the heart and mind. It’s always a pleasure knowing yourself from different phases of your life and seeing how you have evolved — there are certain moments where you realize how your vision had been morphed about a certain happening, how certain developments from the time of a journal entry has now shifted and your priorities have now transitioned. There is a lot of learning that goes around, rest assured.

If you’ve been considering journaling but don’t know where exactly to start, don’t fret, I’ve been there. Sometimes, its all at the top of your head, but you somehow lack the words or inspiration. To get started, you could try using some journal prompts.

SOME JOURNAL PROMPTS WHICH HAVE HELPED ME IN THE PAST:

• My word of the day is…
• How I feel about things that happened today…
• One emotion that lies deep in my core is…
• I am grateful for…
• What has this incident taught me…
• This thing made me happy/sad today.

We often underestimate the profound effects of something as simple as writing that comes with the least effort but has a wondrous and healing effect on us. Journaling is something I recommend to everyone interested and invested in wellness and betterment of their mental health and life.

You don’t have to be a great writer to commence your journaling journey, you don’t even have to be a writer to begin with. All you will ever need are three things — a pen, a few papers and all your consciousness, that does it!

Grab these things, sit down in a quiet space, put on some music, if you’d like and start jotting down whatever you feel, think or sense at the moment. Begin somewhere…anywhere and I promise the rest will fall together. So, whenever you feel clouded or you think you could use a friend and cannot confide in anyone just yet, a journal is what you need. It does miracles. So do yourself a favor and get yourself your paper binded friend. Trust me, I tried it and that’s what brought me here.