I know that as Writers, we are always improving, and probably nothing you ever write will be perfect in yours or anyones eyes. Looking back over things I wrote a long time ago triggers a number of feelings. Firstly, awkwardness. I feel my skin crawling, and my face flushing even though no one is around.

So how does it feel when you go back and look at old journal entries? I find it helpful to re-read recent journal entries, as in from the last week or two. That can help me see how my mental goings-on have been evolving, and it lets me see realizations I’ve come to or changes or progress that I’ve made.

Reflection allows you to begin this journey. To grow as a writer, look back at your previous writing. If you look back at a drawing you did in first grade, you might find it funny or cute. Additionally, and more likely than not, you could do that same drawing now with a lot more detail and skill than you did back then.

“As I look back on my life, I realize that every time I thought I was being rejected from something good, I was actually being redirected to something better.” – Steve Maraboli 17.

Writing mentors and teachers will tell you to ‘look at your work subjectively as if you are the reader not the writer and you’ll see it in a whole new light’ — at least that’s what I ...