7d ago (edited) in Words of Wisdom
Meditations 2025 (6 mins)
I appear to habitually clear out my room with the turn of the new year. This year I was in my room, knee deep in boxes when midnight struck. I was too enthralled by the entries I had made to my journals the previous years to take notice of 2025 arriving.
The TL;DR. Journalling is remarkable. Not only do you give yourself the presence of mind to write down important feelings and events of the day. You also have the privilege of reading back over those submissions and enjoying a sense of progress and pride for how you've developed over the years: How your worries have shifted, how your goals have adjusted, how your life has changed and what good things have remained the same despite it all.
On this day, January 3rd 2023. I wrote in my notebook:
I am grateful for: My job and the money it provides me, my friends who critique and inspire me, the motivation to stick to my routine again.
Today's positive experience: Going to the gym with ****** at 5am!
Three priorities in my life: Sticking to my routine (waking up and sleeping), eating well and clean, maintaining energy for after work.
Three things I am excited for today: Reading for 1 hour, writing a video idea, working & finishing work.
I would like to be helpful by: Trying my hardest in every facet of the day - gym, diet, job, cooking, relationship.
I also wrote my workout for the day, and how much money I earned and spent that day.
On this day, January 3rd 2024. I wrote in my journal app:
I am Grateful for: Seeing *** at David Lloyd, meeting ****** at the station, getting some of topic 4 done.
Today's positive experience: ***** telling me about (his business venture).
Priorities: Picking up slack at work, working on topic 3 development, working out HARD.
I am Excited For: People coming back into the office, getting to work on Topic 3, going to the study room with ******.
Tried to be helpful by: Holding the door open for people.
I can say for certain that in both of these years I was struggling a lot. In 2023 I was working in a place where I felt no purpose and in 2024 my relationship had fallen apart. Despite this, the younger version of me really tried to find the good in life, and to make that good better and nurture it.
What stands out more to me though, is the struggles I talk about. In 2023 it seemed like 20 year old Owen was worried about his routine, his diet and his finances. I think about none of those things anymore, they're all automated and so they barely cross my mind - to the point I forgot I was ever worried about them. In 2024 it looks like 21 year old Owen was really concerned about this 'Topic 3.' I know what he's talking about, and all that stress was for nothing... we dropped a 46% on that exam, and yet we still ended up where we desired to be.
Something else I noticed from 2024 is that the only way I could be helpful that day was by holding the door open. This reminds me of a phrase I've come to love "you can't pour from empty buckets." Even more notable is 2023, where I could only be helpful to myself by getting a routine on track. It seems, miraculously that my buckets are at least a little more full now than when I was 21 and 20, I would never have noticed this had I not written it down.
The point of all this is, you're not going to notice how much you've grown. We have a cruel tendency to not give ourselves enough credit, and journaling and reading those journals helps put life into perspective. Even though I feel so stagnant, I somehow, at some time, solved the things I was worried about. Or, as in the case of my exam, I failed miserably. But whether I succeeded or failed, I made it through. It's really something to see into the mind of your younger self, and it appears to me to be the easiest way to record your progress.
Be proud of your younger self, he solved his problems, or he failed and endured life anyway. He got you here, he afforded you the luxuries that you now call problems and worries. He did good.
2
1 comment
Meditations 2025 (6 mins)
skool.com/library-of-alexandria
Learn. Discuss. Enjoy. Free now and always.
powered by