When I was diagnosed with leukemia at age twenty-two and spent four harrowing years in cancer treatment, my journal was a lifeline. Rather than shutting down or feeling hopeless, I could trace the contours of what I was thinking and feeling and gain a sense of agency. So when Covid hit in the spring of 2020 and the world went into lockdown, I knew what to reach for: my journal. This time, I invited strangers from all over the world to join me.

The response was astonishing. By the end of the first 100 days, there were 100,000 of us: writing, searching, seeking, connecting, making sense of our lives together. It was call and response, reverberations begetting reverberations. Through the essays and prompts, which were interpreted in so many ways—from a typical diary entry to sonnets to songs and drawings—the alchemical properties of journaling showed us how to turn isolation into creative solitude, confinement into connection, and confusion into clarity and calm. 

This project took on new resonance about a year later, when I learned my leukemia had returned after almost a decade of remission. Here at the Isolation Journals, we continue to use the journal to navigate life’s waters, be they turbulent or calm, and learn to hold the paradoxes—the beautiful and cruel facts of our existence—in an open palm.

I believe a creative life is for everyone. I hope you’ll join me.