Analyzing my journal

One of the first assignments we got for this English course was to keep a journal. We basically had to do daily entries each week. The assignment consisted on dedicating ten minutes to just writing... we had to try to not think, clear our minds and to write whatever came out. I have to say that most of my entries resulted as a very crude, raw and very hard to understand piece of work. I rarely found a good place to do the exercise. I easily got distracted with the surroundings and it was very difficult for me to keep a clear mind. Though this was most of the times, I do have to admit it was a relaxing exercise. I found it to be soothing, and it helped release a bit of stress during the day. Also, it helped to clear distractions before going to bed, or before studying.

The most difficult thing about keeping this journal was to keep a clear mind. Something I had to do, or something that happened to me always made its way into the page in one way or another. I learned about myself that it’s hard for me not to think. That it’s hard for me to do things under pressure when I have to. For instance, I normally don’t mind writing. If I find a topic I like, I usually trail off into my thoughts and don’t even notice everything that I've written until I've finished. But, when I sat down to write an entry, I spent a lot of the time in a blank. So… in summary, I do think this type of exercise is useful to get through stressful times, it could even become some sort of hobby. Because one ends up writing things you wouldn't normally do. So, in a way, you could even discover yourself through a journal. But, I wouldn't recommend keeping a schedule to do so. This sort of thing should happen spontaneously and freely. Because the added stress of having to keep up with a deadline doesn't help you relax to actually do the exercise. I think it’s a great idea, a good interesting process. But the specifics of the assignment should maybe be reviewed and restructured. So that the student has the opportunity to enjoy it a bit more, and maybe even get more out of it. Another suggestion I could make is that maybe the journal should be done through the whole semester. Let the students work through it when their most relaxed, at the beginning of the semester, and when they’re most stressed out, during finals. That way, I think you would see a big change in how the writing process takes place, due to stress and time management.