Every night, for the last five years, I write a few lines in my perpetual journal. This type of journaling involves writing the date (e.g. January 25) at the top of one page, and then writing a few sentences for each year on that page. I’m now at the point where the pages are nearly full and contain entries from 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 and now, 2021.
Change and growth is hard to see, especially when you’re in the thick of life. And sometimes it feels like life moves at a snail’s pace. It’s so easy to feel stuck in the day-to-day motions and think that every day “feels” the same. Especially last year, when every day WAS nearly identical.
What I love about this journal I’ve kept is that I can see how much has changed from year to year, and how much I’ve changed and grown. I’m not just talking about the big things, like I was married five years ago and now I’m not. Or how on January 25, 2020, the idea of a pandemic wasn’t even on my radar. … But my way of thinking is different. Friendships and connections that didn’t even exist three years ago are stronger now than they’ve ever been. Feelings (good and scary) I didn’t feel two years ago, I feel today.
And this – LIFE – it all happens every single moment of every day, whether we’re even trying or not. In many ways it gives me hope, especially on days when I feel particularly low. Because even on bad days of the past, I can read those entries and see that things turned around and got better. … I have no idea what will happen tomorrow, just like I had no idea what today would look like one year ago. But reading these entries and knowing what I know, it all helps me have a little bit more faith and hope in tomorrow and what the future may hold.