“Silence isn’t empty; it’s full of answers.”
This year I struggled a lot with balancing my social life with my personal time. It all started last year when I was teaching at a tough school. I got into a habit of isolating myself from the world. I couldn’t wait to come home each night and journal for hours. I wanted the peace, and I ignored everyone to get it.
While I am no longer teaching, this year I have stayed in that same habit, however this time I started to compromise my relationships with other people. I have to give a huge shoutout to my friends who stuck it out with me, thanks for understanding and letting me be. I am finally learning, however, that I don’t have to compromise one for the other. That I can have both my social life and my time alone to journal and work on personal growth.
Putting myself into isolation has opened a very important door for me. It’s opened the door to myself. I feel like I’ve almost never known myself as an individual, a human, and my soul-self beforehand.
It’s still one of my favorite things that I do on a daily basis. Each night, right before bed. It’s important to me because I have grown SO much and learned more than I could ever imagine, and continue to do so every single day.
I’m not saying you have to isolate yourself for an entire year to learn about yourself and to grow, but I do encourage you to take time to practice self-awareness and person growth daily. It’s not easy, but the transformation is incredible.
Get a journal and isolate yourself for 10–20 minutes when you have some free time. I’d recommend when you wake up or before you go to bed, you’re more relaxed. Reflect on your day, your feelings, where you are versus where you want to go, ask yourself questions, dive deep inside yourself and what you will find will be far more remarkable than you could ever imagine. I encourage self-exploration, it guides you to where you want to go and who you are truly meant to be.
Journaling started out as a way for me to survive teaching in a rough school, but it has turned into something so much more. It’s given me the awareness and insight into myself.
And with that, this story shall be continued…
Olya Barnett is the creator of www.positivitysparkles.com, a website that promotes positive thinking and personal growth to become your best-self yet! Join our email list for the best goodiest straight to your inbox!
