For my 15th Birthday my best friend suggested that we exchange hand-decorated journals with each other, so that we could write a yearlong letter to one another and return the journals the following May. It seemed like a great idea and I couldn’t wait to get the journal back and read everything she had been doing and thinking about for the past year.
I thought these journals would be a great activity for us to enjoy together but I had not considered how much it would strengthen my writing and also inspire me to continue writing regularly. When it was time to give the journals back to each other, I was somewhat sad to let go of mine because it possessed almost every detail of that year of my life. I even included momentums of different vacations I had gone on with my family or friends, ticket stubs from movie theatres and concerts, and drawings and photos as well.
One thing I also took away from this activity is how good it felt to have someone take interest in my life and care to know how I think and feel. In fact, after we exchanged the journals we each had so many questions and comments for each other that we filled hours of conversation, even though we already saw each other on a regular basis.
Since then, I have continued to write in a journal. Not for the purpose of someone else, but for my own benefit, so that I can document thoughts and ideas and also so I can revisit the past and examine how I have changed over time, personally and as a writer. I can look at those journals and observe how my spelling and grammar has changed, penmanship, and the use of detail and vocabulary have changed as well.
My friend’s birthday gift provided such an outlet for expression and communication. I learned that by writing down what I was thinking and feeling, I was able to organize each thought and consequently verbalize it more clearly and efficiently. Likewise, if I developed a question about a particular event, I could write it down privately so I wouldn’t forget it, and then go back to it for further research. These types of activities challenged my thinking, preventing me from questioning or thinking thoughtlessly and then forgetting the whole idea later on.
I have been influenced by schools, people, extracurricular activities, books, music, and so much more, but it is difficult to remember everything, and also provide an explanation, if there has not been any documentation. Everything we know from History is because someone somewhere wrote down each event; therefore, writing is invaluable! Regardless of writing skill or level of creativity, it is of necessity that people write.
I thought these journals would be a great activity for us to enjoy together but I had not considered how much it would strengthen my writing and also inspire me to continue writing regularly. When it was time to give the journals back to each other, I was somewhat sad to let go of mine because it possessed almost every detail of that year of my life. I even included momentums of different vacations I had gone on with my family or friends, ticket stubs from movie theatres and concerts, and drawings and photos as well.
One thing I also took away from this activity is how good it felt to have someone take interest in my life and care to know how I think and feel. In fact, after we exchanged the journals we each had so many questions and comments for each other that we filled hours of conversation, even though we already saw each other on a regular basis.
Since then, I have continued to write in a journal. Not for the purpose of someone else, but for my own benefit, so that I can document thoughts and ideas and also so I can revisit the past and examine how I have changed over time, personally and as a writer. I can look at those journals and observe how my spelling and grammar has changed, penmanship, and the use of detail and vocabulary have changed as well.
My friend’s birthday gift provided such an outlet for expression and communication. I learned that by writing down what I was thinking and feeling, I was able to organize each thought and consequently verbalize it more clearly and efficiently. Likewise, if I developed a question about a particular event, I could write it down privately so I wouldn’t forget it, and then go back to it for further research. These types of activities challenged my thinking, preventing me from questioning or thinking thoughtlessly and then forgetting the whole idea later on.
I have been influenced by schools, people, extracurricular activities, books, music, and so much more, but it is difficult to remember everything, and also provide an explanation, if there has not been any documentation. Everything we know from History is because someone somewhere wrote down each event; therefore, writing is invaluable! Regardless of writing skill or level of creativity, it is of necessity that people write.
This is one entry from the journal Hannah returned to me at the conclusion of our year of writing. She did quite a bit of traveling, and this particular page includes Disney World features :)
Hannah and I loved to send letters as well. While not all of these are from her, certainly most of them are!