Happy 2018 everyone! I told myself I wasn’t going to post anything involving the new year, because I have been so busy with New Years Eve and catching up with friends and I’m about to leave for Scotland. But I just realized something that I think is so cool: I just completed my five year “One Line A Day” book.
I got this book as a Christmas present from my parents in 2012 when I was a junior in high school. I waited until Jan. 1, 2013 to start it, and it is just so crazy to look back on where I was in life when I started this book and where I am now. I was 17 and a clueless high schooler when I first got this book, and now I’m 22 and about to graduate college. (*screams*) My head is spinning just thinking about all of the major things that happened during that time, let alone reading everything that happened in a single day, every day for five years.
The book is set up with a month and day at the top of each page and 5 different sections to fill out your day for that year. Then you flip to the next page and fill out the next day for that year and so onto the next page and the next until you get to December 31st. Then you start in the second section at the beginning of the book again. I would post a picture of the inside of the book, but this thing was basically my diary for 5 years and I don’t want to post it for the world to see.
I’m already an extremely nostalgic person, but after looking through this book I’m pretty emotional. It is so crazy to look back on the days that I literally thought the world was ending because of heartbreak and on the days that were some of the best of my life. I loved looking at days that really changed my life that I didn’t even realize at the time, like when I chose what college to go to or chose to become an RA or went in for that job interview. And like when you first meet someone and you don’t realize how important they will be in your life until you’re writing about hanging out with them on that same day the next year. It was also cool to see that I still actually hang out with some of the same people even five years later (shoutout to my OGs from high school). I wrote about things I wanted to do in the future and change about my life, and it was so incredible to see those changes and events actually happen. It was also so amazing to see all the places and adventures I went on all throughout these years. Those were the good ol’ days.
While filling out this book, it was actually kind of hard to look back on certain years, depending on how that current year was going for me. For instance, I think it can be really hard for anyone dealing with a broken heart to look back on a happy memory with the person who broke your heart that same day a year ago. I experienced this multiple times, to the point where my friends wanted me to throw the entire book out because it was making me so sad. But I’m glad I didn’t! Because as many bad days I had over the years, I had some pretty amazing days too. Those good and bad days would swap around on the same date over the years, which was crazy to compare. And even if I was sad and hurting on one particular day one year, it was really cool to look back on that day a year or two later and know that I was finally over it. That is a great feeling.
The growth I’ve experienced in the last five years is astonishing. Keeping up with this book for five years really reminded me with how things used to be for me and how I used to think about life. I have literally come so far in the last five years. And I really just want to yell at my past self who wrote that first entry not to do this or be careful of that and tell myself 2 years ago not to do that because of all the mistakes and pain and drama that were the result of those actions. But they’re also the lessons I’ve learned a long the way. Come to think of it, I wouldn’t tell my past self to do anything different in the past five years, because that is all what led me to here and who I am now. No wait…I would just want to tell the girl who was feeling lost or scared to go to college or who got her heart broken by a stupid boy or was devastated to have to get braces again as an adult that it will all be okay. I’m literally writing this blog post totally content with life and so looking forward to the things that will come in my next 5 years. I may not always have felt content, but that’s where I am now at the end of this book.
I think thats a really cool mindset too that I want to carry into my next “One Line A Day” book: by the end of this book, everything is going to be okay. Even if it isn’t, there is always another book.
Here is a link to buy your own. I would highly recommend it, especially since its the start of a new year. It can be hard to remember to write something everyday, but I usually just go back through my phone or planner to remember what I did on the day that I missed. If I have one resolution to share for 2018, it is that I want to be more consistent in writing in my new “One Line A Day” journal.
Thanks for reading! xx