Student Blog: An Escape In Words

It is not news to anyone that I am quite an avid fan of planners and journals, and my love for them has only grown ever since I began my study journey in the UK. Truth be told, I have always been quite a writer even before coming to the UK, hence my current blog writing endeavors with BroadwayWorld. And here, I’ll take you on a quick trip through my journaling tendencies.

Writing has always been a sort of escape for me and because it proved to be something of use to organize my busy life, I intended to take full advantage of it. You’d be surprised by how many hobbies can become useful tools in your day-to-day life as a student. Whether it’s the Notes App on my phone or a notebook, I can write wherever I go; and I’ve never been more grateful for the convenience of a phone.

During the first week of my studies, I thought I would have to sacrifice writing to make way for rehearsals and classes but as it turns out, writing became a remedy to my long tiring days as a means to unwind or remind myself. Even drawing became quite some sort of stress-reliever while journaling. Presently, I’ve got a bit of a collection of messy journals, most of which are filled with scribbles, entries and an endless amount of lists since I began journaling. There is nothing like putting in a bit of fun into responsibilities.

Colors add a lot more life to the pages, and it’s often good enough to catch my attention. Sometimes I’ll use colors to categorize certain things on my list. It could be based on priority or the type of task, whether it’s school or personal work. There’s always a lot going on in a single page but I’ll do anything to make sure I know where to look as I have the attention span of a pea.

Funny enough, with all the writing I do, I’m not exactly the most brilliant at following my own schedules but writing them out helps me get through my tasks without overthinking. You would think that writing them out might overcomplicate things but it helps me visualize what there is to finish on the plate before I add any more. With the load, I can segment them to see which ones I can complete in shorter time before moving on to the heftier ones, and the cycle repeats itself. What’s more exciting is ticking things off the items that I’ve completed and recycling any space on the paper for something else. And I repeat until every scrap of paper I have is filled to the brim.

It's funny how one of the simplest things I enjoy in life has become one of few ways I cope with school and being far from home.

I did learn from someone that it’s good to get your thoughts out onto paper before the end of the day as you won’t ponder over them as you try to sleep. Just keep writing throughout your day and record the thoughts nagging at you all day. It’s almost like confiding in a friend, except you have a pen in hand and the liberation of getting every thought out without worry you might be overwhelming a listener. The further away from your bed time, the better. It’s a habit I’ve been trying to adopt but I do enjoy writing at night more because of the silence. It puts my mind at ease as I try to pour out my feelings, and it might just be the muse that motivates me.

A joy I find in all the writing I do is the fact that I have records to bring me to the moment I wrote them and the events they narrate. Even if it’s a long vent of something absolutely awful, it’s a reminder that I’ve gotten through those times and I’m out here reading that entry a few years later. I even keep the lists of tasks over the course of my first year to remind myself that I am capable of tackling more than I can think. Just having a record of my progress and seeing where I was just a few months, or even just a few days, ago tends to get me up and going. Seeing where I began in first year compared to where I am now is quite a leap, and if I didn’t have the record, I wouldn’t have known how far I’ve come.

Much like this little blogging gig, in a few years time, I might look back at this and have my mind blown away that I've written for BroadwayWorld. To be fair, it's still insane to me!

It's all in the little things!

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