When life gets you down, there's always a way to get it off your chest. I know there have been days when I just want to yell and scream and say, "I don't want to do this," or " I don't want to be here." It's natural to become agitated from the harsh realities you may face during the day. I love to write expressively about who I am, how I feel about something someone says or how I deal with certain obstacles and whether or not I feel pleased about it afterwards.

I know what probably comes to mind is a diary or a journal, and that's exactly what you need. A journal is an more open-ended platform where you can free write what you hate, what you love, who you love, how you feel, what embarrasses you.

A few months ago I found a website that has helpful tips on how to write and maintain a journal. “What do you want to write about? Why do you want to write about this? How do you feel about what you’re writing?” These questions really give you a base as to what you may want to write about. After you achieve the base, it becomes the topic for your “story.”

I asked my Creative Writing professor about why it’s important to journal. Professor Jesse Millner explained that it’s a great idea to keep one close to you at all times because you never know when you’re going to write something down. "You can always look back on something you wrote the day before and think it’s boring, then you can read it a year later, and find that it was an changing moment in your life or it was a great story."

The website I spoke about earlier does encourage that as well. Date your entries and keep and re-read your journals. It’s an excellent way to keep your thoughts in retrospect. Sometimes there are days when I look back on my old journal entries and think, “I’m in a better place than I was back then.” I like remembering a bad memory and considering where I am now, a completely different position in the universe, it's like your journal gives you its blessing for you to continue on. There’s a sense of closure when you write your feelings and memories down. It’s like closing a book with a beautiful ending, or watching the suspenseful end of a movie. A journal is a piece of you because there will be days you look back on and remember more details about it, about yourself, and about your life.

Writing in a journal is soothing because you can let out whatever you feel, hear, see, love, hate, taste, and so on. Whether there’s a day you don’t think will come to an end, journaling can help you get there.