The art of balancing schoolwork, sports and extracurricular activities is seldom mastered in high school. To de-stress and be creative, many students find keeping a journal to be an essential part of their lifestyle.

Junior Dafna Williams started keeping a journal at the end of 8th grade. She initially began her journals as a way of making lists. At first, she made lists of the characters in the books she read and the books they belonged to. She then became interested in Lucid Dreaming, the act of consciously observing and controlling one’s dreams.

When finding time to create art became difficult, junior Ritika Singh turned to creating bullet journals to stay organized and in touch with her artistic side. Her bullet journal doubles as a school planner, where she jots down her schedule using calligraphy. Singh is not always consistent with the way she fills out her journal, and she loves the spontaneity of working on it.

Feeling like the high school planner was not enough to fulfill her artistic and academic needs, junior Ivy Tou discovered bullet journals. Her bullet journal became a place to record homework assignments, memories, favorite movies and quotes, mood and habit trackers, as well as doodles. Having a journal to keep all of these ideas has made Tou more aware and mindful of the items on her to-do list.

Inspired by her artistic friends, junior Haley McCabe decided to start a bullet journal of her own. An art journal facilitates getting her thoughts out in a creative way. From to-do lists for the month or week to inspiring quotes to motivate her, McCabe finds working on her bullet journal to be fun and helpful in creating an aesthetic.

Senior Sophie Arnstein started keeping a diary her freshman year. Instead of writing things down, she prefers typing up poems, and instead of texting people, she finds writing letters to them to be more expressive. Arnstein also uses her journals for drawing sketches. She views journaling as having a safe space and considers it as her medium where she can express her feelings in a way that’s personal.

Video by Rachel Myers and Mia Abulaf, Sagamore Staff