Journaling is a very liberating form of writing. When journaling, you have no restrictions, you write as you wish, without having your creativity held down. You don’t have to adhere to any page limits, paper styles or writing utensils, for you are free to use whatever you want. Journaling is great because it simultaneously allows you to become more adept at writing while also preserving your memories.
By making the commitment to write every day, you have the ability to look back at your prior writing and reflect on how you’ve grown over time. Rereading my own journal was a particularly interesting experience, for it enabled me to realize the number of things I have stopped doing, the things I have improved on, and so on and so forth. In this way, journaling can give you greater perspective on your growth as a person and writer.
The mere act of journaling improves observational skills. After journaling for an extended amount of time, you will come to find that you’ve become increasingly descriptive as a direct result of you hardwiring your mind to notice more minute details, such as the taste of a certain food, the colors of the leaves, and so on and so forth. You start to be enveloped by your writing and the quality of your writing will get better while you notice things that you may not have before.
Journaling is great for improving writing skills, and the best part is that beginners don’t necessarily have to journal for long periods of time each day. Taking 5 minutes to just write about anything you can think of is a good start, and over time the 5 minute mentality will grow into 10 minutes, then 15, and maybe even longer. All in all, journaling is a great practice. It is a very simple and liberting way of practicing your writing. You get to write about what you want how you want to. You grow as a writer, become a better observer and preserve your memories at the same time; it is for these reasons that I recommend you try this practice.
Article by MoCo Student staff writer Yeabsira Moges of Wheaton High School.