How to write your way through the worldwide pandemic

Journaling is well-known as a therapeutic practice, a tool for helping you organize your thoughts and vent your emotions, especially in anxiety-ridden times. But keeping a diary has an added benefit during a pandemic: It may help educate future generations. In an article for The New York Times titled

“The Quarantine Diaries,” Amelia Nierenberg spoke to Ady, an 8-year-old in the Bay Area who is keeping a diary. Nierenberg writes:

As the coronavirus continues to spread and confine people largely to their homes, many are filling pages with their experiences of living through a pandemic. Their diaries are told in words and pictures: pantry inventories, window views, questions about the future, concerns about the present. Taken together, the pages tell the story of an anxious, claustrophobic world on pause.

“You can say anything you want, no matter what, and nobody can judge you,” Ady said in a phone interview earlier this month, speaking about her diary. “No one says, ‘scaredy-cat.’ ”

You can keep your own journal, recording your thoughts, questions and experiences of living through the coronavirus pandemic. Not sure what to write about? Read the rest of Nierenberg’s article (nytimes.com/by/ amelia-nierenberg) to find out what others around the world are recording. For more inspiration, here are a few writing prompts to get you started:

• How has the virus disrupted your daily life? What are you missing? School, sports, competitions, extracurricular activities, social plans, vacations or anything else?

• What effect has this crisis had on your own mental and emotional health?

• What changes, big or small, are you noticing in the world around you? You can write in your journal every day or as often as you like. And if writing isn’t working for you right now, try a visual, audio or video diary instead.