Gratitude Journal: A Life-Changing Habit

While enduring hard circumstances, it’s hard to stay positive. But I know, from experience, that the way you choose the think will decide how your life is going to be. As my New Year’s resolution, I decided that my goals should improve my mental health. Junior year can be stressful with loads of homework from AP classes to extracurriculars to sports to scoring well on SATs and AP tests. However, having a negative mindset on things that cannot be changed will make enduring them so much harder. So at the start of 2020, I decided to change my habits and think positively. And with this in mind, I started a daily gratitude journal.

In my sixth-grade computer class, we would practice typing by filling out a daily gratitude journal on a Microsoft document. Every day I had that class, I thought, “this is dumb and a waste of time. I put the same things on this document every single day: I’m grateful for my family, I’m grateful for my health, and I’m grateful for my grades.” 

Five years of knowledge and time to mature allowed me to realize that positivity can make life more enjoyable. I started to appreciate the little events, people’s actions, and things in my life. For the past 20 days, I’ve consistently written in my journal about various topics. Anything throughout the day that gave me a burst of joy or convenience or something that made my experiences better, I would write down. This act may sound tediousㅡwriting in a journal and doing it every day, but this repetition trains your brain to look for the positives in your day.

In my opinion, the issue of mental health is disregarded and overlooked by many. Human beings naturally stress over conflict and uncontrollable situations. But if you take life one step at a time and stop to appreciate the good things you’re surrounded by, these conflicts and situations seem less unbearable. A daily journal, whether it be a gratitude journal, or diary, or a dream log, is beneficial in letting your thoughts out and relieving your conscience. Take the 30 seconds out of your day and change your mindset forever.