How I Kept a Diary for a Whole Year?

In 2018, I had so much going on from preparing myself for graduate studies and moving to a new country and going through a toxic relationship alongside stress associated with studying a new major with a new system and embarking a new experience. It was too much to handle and I had to deal with everything on my own at the same time. Only when things escalated and I felt things were out of control even if others didn't see it but it is how I felt. At the end of the same year, I began to think about the new year and what habit I need to adopt for the entire year and I knew it was challenging to choose a thing.  

Therefore, I decided to keep a diary. I have tried it multiple times before but I never carried it as a habit. I had a talk with someone on the first day of 2019 and he asked me to write what I felt at that moment and I did. I never thought that writing down our thoughts and ideas and mainly feelings could help. From that day, it turned into a whole year and I am happy I managed to it and I decided to share my advice with you, dear readers.  

So to build this habit, one must first start slow to understand how they will do it and include it in their busy schedule. A diary is personal so you shouldn't worry about your writing style or the sequence of phrases and flow of thoughts. As long as you are writing with your emotions to reflect on your day, you should be fine and shouldn't worry about it. Eventually, everything will fall into place. To pick up this habit, choose a timeframe that you are not busy the most and also when your mind is the clearest. Writing down your thoughts and emotions should be in a clear state of mind.  

The time that worked for me best was before sleeping at night. I started to leave my diary book next to my pillow and before I sleep, I take a few minutes to write about something that made me feel or think throughout the day, maybe a nice gesture or getting free coffee or having a talk with an unexpected person, etc. After that, I found myself taking my diary with me when I go to a coffee shop during the weekend or go out for a walk and I would write down how I am feeling at that moment. Even negative thoughts, I would write them down to let them go. 

You can be creative too. You can add bullet points. Random notes in the margins of pages. Be detailed. Details are key because it is all about keeping a diary, it is best when we are specific in our description and add depth to it that years later, we can relive the feeling we had when we wrote a certain memory. In terms of language, you can choose any language you're comfortable with. For example, I found myself being more expressive with using Arabic even though I don't write much in Arabic but I could feel things when I use it but you can choose two or more, languages. 

In addition, don't worry if you missed a day or two, it doesn't mean that you have to stop. Sometimes, I don't write down the diary on the same day, I might write it a day or two after it passed and it is still okay. It is okay as well not to have many details to write on a specific day. I had days where I wrote ''nothing special happened today'' or ''nothing to mention here''.  

Keeping a diary helped me face many emotions I thought I faced when in fact, I have been avoiding them for years. A diary gives you a chance to confront your own self and assess every emotion you feel. It is a great tool to use even if it doesn't seem that effective but once you start, you will realize many things during this process of writing. I encourage you to keep a diary and experiment with your emotions in a healthy way.