The one practice I kept was writing. It made the cut because I can’t deny how many good things in my life have come as a result of my putting words out into the world. It also felt like a respite: one area where I wasn’t skeptical of my identity. I’m at my most courageous on the page because interrogating my feelings with words feels justified and

Writing in a journal will help you connect the dots of your journey. It’s a way of keeping track of your thoughts, a tool for seeing and understanding your progress. A journal keeps you centered; it allows you to see fears that recur—and to recognize ones that fall away.

The journal is like a chrysalis: the container of your goopiest, most unformed self. It’s a rare space, in this age of hypercurated personas, where you can share your most unedited thoughts, where you can sort through the raw material of your life. Day by day, page by page, you uncover the answers that are already inside of you, and you begin to