By Brian Johnson
Some of you may say “Why bother?”, after all, journaling is here to make you relaxed and relieved, not the other way around when you try to make up something extraordinary describing your usual troubles and issues. And it is a good remark here. But it turned out to be worth my every effort because I got from it much more than simple confessions and contemplations. I learned how to:
This doesn’t imply that with the help of creative writing you make your trip to supermarket turn into an adventure. However, writing a short story based on your journey to Grand Canyon, or creating a real travelogue in your journal makes your memories brighter (if you stay at home all the time and do nothing, even creative writing and making up “interesting” topics won’t help you here). You know, some people claim that we feel happiness just for a second, and all the feelings that follow are just an aftermath of it. So, using creative writing to describe even just an aftermath fills up your life with happy and memorable recollections, thus, making your life much brighter for yourself.
When you try to adopt some kind of a habit, you repeatedly do some actions that push you out of your comfort zone. But after some time passes, you stop feeling any discomfort regarding this habit. The same thing happened to me when I was practicing creative writing in my journal. For example, I adore haikus, and when I tried to produce another portion of words about my usual day, I wrote haikus instead. Of course, they weren’t as great as the ones by famous authors, but they showed me that being creative is not that hard, so why not craft something unusual all the time?
Creative writing in my journal has helped me understand that it’s not some people or events that determine my mood and feelings, it’s only me. It doesn’t matter what happens to me because I choose how to perceive it, and creative journaling is a tool to modify the reality the way it should be. If the phrase “modify the reality the way it should be” sounds strange to you, I’ll explain. I am a very emotional individual and tend to overreact to different small things whether they are good or bad, but so far creative journaling has helped me to be calmer in such situations.
Three months ago someone stole my laptop. I got very upset because despite all the persuasions of my friends I didn’t keep my writing works and other important documents on cloud storage. Everything was safe and sound (ironic, isn’t it?) in the memory of my laptop. And then, I lost everything. When I came home, I rushed to my journal to spill everything out, but I felt if I had gone over it again, it would have made the things only worse. So, instead I started creating a sketch of a crime story based on real life events. I plunged into it so much that the next thing I remembered was me laughing at some dumb dialogue and prompts I had made up. It made me feel much better, and now, every time something unpleasant happens, I go to my journal and create something funny out of it.
Why do people need to feel self-satisfaction? Why can’t they just settle for what they have and be happy? Why do they always strive for more? Well, the answers to these questions can all be found in the explanation of human nature. Personal ego is a very important thing for people who want to develop and achieve great goals (as you’ve understood, I am one of them). Of course, the greatness of these goals depends on the scale in terms of which they are perceived, but anyway, when I reach my aims, I feel wonderful. However, when I do even more (exactly what happened with my creative journaling: haikus and detective stories were not in my original plans), I feel that I finally live up to my potential and use my skills to the fullest. And that’s the time when my self-satisfaction has no limits.
It is impossible to describe what a game changer my creative journaling has become for me. I feel that I have become more self-confident and bolder. Now I try to fulfill all my ideas and get the most valuable experience in the process. Can I say that this seemingly inconsiderable habit has changed my life? I guess, I can, which proves that it was worth it (though I didn’t doubt that for a second).
Brian Johnson is a super-talented content manager at DoMyCreativeWritings.com. He likes poetry and adores haikus.