Dear Diary - The Lost Art Of Documenting

29/05/2021

If the likes of Anne Frank, Che Guvera were only busy uploading Stories and Fleets, those moments that have defined our history would have been just that - stories fleeting away. 

One of the world’s largest inspirations - Oprah Winfrey has documented the art of diary keeping - at every given opportunity. So, why is it that this beautiful art is being erased? We’ve listed some common concerns that people might undergo.

  • Technology is making the art of putting pen to paper a thing of the past. Some people believe it to be outdated. 
  • Longer working hours, demanding lifestyles leave people spent - leaving them with no time to keep a diary. 
  • Some people are under the misconception that maintaining a diary is difficult and requires language prowess. 

Writing a diary has several benefits, some of them include: 

  1. Clearing your head
    With all the difficulties that the world is collectively going through, life can sometimes feel overwhelming and cloud your judgement. Writing a diary is known to clear your thoughts, by way of which you may identify what is bothering you and plan a way ahead. 
  2. Writing helps you heal 
    Yes, you read that right - from boosting your immunity to strengthening your lungs, ongoing research shows that patients who wrote and maintained a personal journal had a better chance of recovery over those who didn’t. With our health being our priority, this is a great reason to start a diary immediately. 
  3. Improve your communication skills
    The pressure to win social media acclaim in the form of likes and comments, leaves many of us Googling a caption or a smart phrase, instead of expressing what is truly on our mind. Writing a diary is known to help people improve their communication skills - both, written and verbal. 
  4. Boosts your memory 
    It is common knowledge that writing something down improves the likelihood of not just better understanding it, but also remembering it. Students are therefore urged to take down notes when pursuing their academics as it helps with better academic performance. Writing helps the elderly with tackling memory loss - regular journaling has shown to delay the onset of dementia and alzheimers. 
  5. Work through stress 
    Journaling is therapeutic. It literally helps you work through your stress. By accounting your anxious feelings, you identify your stressors. Additionally, journaling soothes your nerves and helps you brainstorm solutions. Go ahead and write some of your stress off. 

Now that we’ve shared a leaf on the merits of writing a diary, here are some points to help get you started:

  • Writing a diary doesn’t necessarily mean filling up pages after pages - start small. Maybe a phrase, or even a paragraph is a great start. As you start feeling more comfortable you will start accounting more 
  • Don’t feel pressured to write about something special. It is absolutely okay if you have had a very average, boring day and have nothing interesting to talk about. In fact just write that down - ‘Dear Diary, today was a drab day.’
  • Try and fix a time to write a diary. When you allot a time, the chances of it becoming a habit are more likely. Writing a diary can take as little as 5-10 minutes of your time in a day. 
  • Choose your writing instruments, whether you want a fancy diary, or just some loose sheets of paper punched together with string, the important thing here is to continue writing. We will put in a pen recommendation, our choice is the Pentonic ball pen - comfortable, sleek and featherlight, this pen is available in over 10 colours. 

There is relief in writing - go on ahead and experience it.