According to Webster’s dictionary, Serenity is the state of being calm, untroubled, and at a peaceful place.

What came to me as a thought, I decided to try and turn into an empowerment movement for woman and men alike to understand the importance of “inking to serenity” or basically “writing to become untroubled, calm, and find peace”.

This movement was reconfirmed to me last night when I was watching a Netflix movie (forgot the name ugh) about a woman who had died in an abandoned house and they were unsure what happened to her. At first, they thought she was homeless, foul play was involved, and that she was the owner of the house. Yet through her journaling, they realized she was a schizophrenic mother who had been let down like so many others by the mental health system and had been living off apples and rainwater until the freezing temperatures of the winter had killed her inside the abandoned home.

The movie was based around what she had written in her journal up until her last day on earth. From HER words they got a clear picture of what had occurred and could no longer assume anything about her. She had written her legacy and told them who she was.

When I first started keeping a journal over 18 year ago, I did it simply because I loved writing and it provided me with such a release emotionally.

I would write and write and read and read over and over again escaping reality and diving into another world.

When I became an adult, my writing changed from just doing it for me but also doing it for my children. I wanted them to know who I was, unedited and straight from the “horses mouth”.

Yet as I sat and read back over my journals I realized how depressed I was as a child. At that time in my life I didn’t know it was called “depression” but when I became older, and read my story with a more mature and educated lense, I could finally put a name to that which had tormented me most of my childhood.

That’s the beauty about journaling. As you write and grow you learn to give situations and circumstances a name for 2 reasons.

1. To understand the “what” and then overcome it
2. To understand the “what” and let it overcome you

 

In the end, due to writing, I was able to see the progression in myself and see that while depression TRIED to make me believe I hadn’t changed, I really had. My journal entries went from a broken-hearted young girl who couldn’t figure out the source of her weakness to a woman who had taken the time to confront her emotions, learned what was causing them, and decided to overcome them as well.

I encourage anyone who is reading this, YOUR story matters. The start the book, write the blog, and leave behind the journal ! You never know who is going to wonder who you are, or better yet who in your future generation will need your stories to understand what they are going through is not only normal but possibly generational. As time changes, let your story be the one thing that reminds others of this time in age.

You matter. Your voice matters. Your presence matters. Now record it.