School diary

High school is awkward, intense, and mostly confusing while you're in it. But it's also when a lot of things happen for the first time – friendships that might last, heartbreaks that definitely won't, opinions you'll cringe at later, and moments you'll wish you could remember better than you actually do.

The problem with memory

You think you'll remember everything. You won't. Five years out, you'll forget names of people you saw every day. Ten years out, entire chapters will be hazy. The details that made it real – inside jokes, specific conversations, what you were worried about before that test – fade faster than you'd expect.

A school diary catches all of that. Not for nostalgia's sake (though that happens too), but because you're changing fast during those years, and there's something valuable in having a record of who you were.

What to write

Doesn't have to be elaborate. What happened today. Who you hung out with. What's stressing you out. What made you laugh. The drama (there's always drama). Write it in your voice, not for an audience. Future you will find it more interesting than you think.

Start now

If you're in school now, start today. If you've graduated, it's too late for those years, but the same logic applies to wherever you are now. You're always changing more than you realize. Writing it down is how you keep track.