why i love journaling and some journal entries
I’ve been journaling for as long as I can remember. Writing has always come naturally to me. I remember when I started school for the very first time and got my school supplies. I didn't even really understand what they were, but I felt something special whenever I scribbled on a piece of paper 
My first journal was an old textbook. I would write in the blank spaces I found within the book. I still remember one rainy day when I wrote in a little corner of the book just how much I loved rainy days. Eventually, I bought a small notebook to write in, and after that, I never stopped journaling. My father noticed how much I loved writing and bought me the most beautiful notebook I had ever seen. I was so happy!
For me, the best day of the year was when my father would take my sister and I to buy our school supplies in the city where he worked at. It was a bigger city, and they had so many more options for cute stationery. We were poor, but my father never skimped on our school supplies. He let us choose the very best notebooks and pens. My sister and I had the most beautiful pens, in every color imaginable. I am so grateful to my father for that. May God bless his life always!
Every year, I would buy a small notebook to use as a planner, but actually, I used it as a journal. I tried to hide my journals so no one would read it, but I’m certain my mother always found it and read everything anyway. I wish I could read everything I wrote during my childhood and adolescence, but I no longer have those journals. I didn't hold onto them for very long because I was afraid someone might read them, so I tore them all up and threw them in the trash. Writing was more of a form of therapy than a way to preserve memories.
I went through a period of several years where I didn't write anything at all. When I moved to the United States at the age of 22, I felt the urge to start writing again as a way to help myself adapt to my new country, and it really did help. I wrote about how I was feeling, the things I was doing and wanted to do, the places I visited, and my personal goals. Last Sunday, I was reading through the first journal I wrote entirely in English, and I laughed so hard at the mistakes I made 
It's all good, I was learning, and I still am. But the most interesting part is seeing just how different of a person I was back then. I was so innocent. I worked so hard to adapt to my new life.
I am also very grateful to my husband, who has always supported my hobbies. He always takes me to the best art supply and stationery stores and buys me everything I want. He always tells me my art is beautiful, even when it isn't all that beautiful. May God bless his life as well!
I have a sketchbook dedicated solely to drawing, but I also draw and create collages in my journals. I like having the freedom to express myself in the most creative way possible. The first two photos are from a journal I kept in 2019. The other photos are recent, from this week.
Check out the blog that inspired me to write this post Véronique