Journaling Your College Experience

When you're in the middle of your college experience, sometimes it's easy to get the feeling that college is moving at a snail's pace — especially when you're in the thick of finals or if you've managed to change your major three times since you enrolled. However, in that moment when you find yourself walking across the stage to receive your diploma, it's inevitable that you will wonder how it all went by so quickly.

That's why it's a good idea to journal about your college experience as it happens. Whether you choose to jot things down old-school in a notebook or chronicle your life in an online blog, documenting your journey will help you remember the little details about college that you may otherwise forget. There are things you'll want to capture, like your first day living in the dorms, that crazy history professor who showed up to class dressed like Abraham Lincoln, the philosophy class that changed your perspective in life and even that infamous keg party when you made a fool of yourself to get a special someone's attention.

Journaling is also helpful in college because it's a proven stress management practice and an excellent way to clear your mind. Some days in college are so packed with information that it's difficult to process it all. Your college days are also full of various frustrations, like pop quizzes and losing that $100+ textbook. Journaling is cathartic, helping you to release those pent-up frustrations.

Online journals are a great way to share your college experience with your friends and family back home. You can also start your own blog to chronicle your adventures in college with a target audience who is in the same boat as you. For instance, you can blog about the unique struggles of going back to college as a working adult, and you'll be surprised to find how many people are in the exact same situation. You may even discover a supportive online community while journaling in blog form online.

Documenting your college experience creates a record of a journey you can pass on to your future children. You'd be surprised how interested they might be in hearing about the things you learned, how hard you partied or even what was going through your head when you met that person in college who later became their mother or father!