Unsplash | Tonik
It has been 1 whole year since we entered the pandemic. I agree when people have said it has been both the fastest and slowest year of their life.
I've noticed how much my life has changed, I have changed, and my habits have changed.
My journaling habit has stuck though and this past year has showed me exactly why to keep going with it.
Here are 3 ways the pandemic re-enforced my journaling habit:
Something constant when many things were changing.
I remember the second week of March 2020 very vividly. I showed up to my journal each morning amazed at how fast things had changed from the day before.
We've heard before that change is constant, but it had never been more true that week or even the months we had ahead.
We lost the sense of predictability and certainty.
I had my journaling practice going, but I had really gotten steady with it right before the pandemic. It is like the universe knew I needed to prepare to have something constant in my life.
Journaling became one of my only constants and gave me some sense of predictability and certainty. I didn't know if I was doing anything else I planned to do, but I was certain that I was going to show up to my journal.
Became a safety net when things went wrong.
People say that when you enter new challenges or life transitions, it is smart to have a safety net of people to support you through it.
While I was thankful to have supportive people around me during the pandemic, I know those people were having a tough time too.
Finding the energy to support ourselves was hard enough and didn't leave us a lot of energy left to support others.
Journaling was always a support for me, but it really became my safety net. My safe space to let out every feeling I had for this thing none of us had been through before. It was the outlet that served me most during this tough time.
Kept record of key events, feelings, and happenings during that time.
I knew when this started happening that this was going to be a very important time in history.
I started writing down all the little things I could so that I could remember what it was like down the road. I attribute so much of my memory to writing things down in my journal.
Although there may be sad things we may not want to remember, I've tried to remember the good things that made this time in the pandemic so unique: having dinner with my family every night for 7 weeks, designing a work from home space, doing yoga outside to get out of the house, and more.
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I'm feeling extra thankful for this journaling practice right now. This past year encouraged me to keep it up and ensured me that I have an outlet to go to when next challenge comes my way.
