I was never much for journaling. I always tried…and quickly failed. To this day I still try. I’ll sit down with one of the many many notebooks/journals I have (I have a thing for collecting beautiful stationary) and attempt to write a number of things. Each time I try it’s different. Whether I’m trying to record what I did that day, how I felt, or some random new “journaling challenge” I saw on the internet, I fail at it within minutes. I start to write, get bored, forget something, or my hand will get tired, and I say I’ll come back to it later, I never do. I even tried last winter writing down what I’d deem “the story of how my boyfriend and I fell in love” trying to record anything and everything I could remember about our relationship. I was really passionate about it one night, wrote a decent amount then decided to go to sleep…I haven’t picked up that notebook since. Hell, even if I’m just trying to write a food journal of what I’m eating each day I can’t stick to it.

They sell countless journals devoted to writing a thought of some sort a day, but that is not necessarily the point of all of this. The point is the self reflection and thought. Even if you aren’t journaling it, the time spent is what matters. It is time spent on your own in contemplation.

In this fast world we live in where you can buy something and have it at your house in an hour, find a stranger to go out with by simply swiping your finger, and run around chasing Pokemon in your backyard, we all just need a little down time. Reflection is important. You need to remember a few things.

What you are living for, what you’ve accomplished and what you love.

Each of these things is equally important to keep you inspired and going. You need a reason to live. We all like to ignore this fact but, we are not our own reason to live. That is why people commit suicide in times of isolation and loneliness. You don’t live for yourself, you live for the people around you. Those that love you. I heard my grandfather say it himself after my grandmother passed. He spoke about how his life was routine, doing puzzles, tending to the garden, going food-shopping. But then he commented on the fact that he has a lot to live for. He’s got his kids, grandkids and even is lucky enough to have several great grandchildren. He said that that was more than enough, and he wanted to live to see it. It’s not our job itself that keeps us going, or the house we live in, or anything. It’s the people we work with, the people we live with, the people we love, that does it.

Our accomplishments are a side motivator in all of this. They keep us going when we want to stop. When we sit down and we no longer want to write that paper, hand in that report, or study for that exam we remember all the time we have invested in this. Too much time to lose.

We are lucky enough to have beautiful lives with beautiful people in them. People most often forget about this. All they can remember and keep track of is what’s next, but the true benefit of journaling is to remember not just that. It is to sit down for a few minutes and think of those people or surroundings you have to be grateful for. You are blessed to live the life you live.

So I challenge you to take time each day to be grateful, and maybe attempt to write it down