Journaling is the act of writing down your thoughts, feelings and experiences and observing them to get a better understanding of who you are, what you want or need, and just as importantly, what you don’t want or need.
If you struggle with anxiety, depression or stress, journaling can help you to gain perspective and manage your emotions, which ultimately will improve your mental health.
Whether you write freely from what is happening in your everyday life or answer specific prompts, putting your thoughts or responses down on paper will give you a visual, and therefore awareness of what is going on in your world. We often subconsciously (or on purpose) put our ‘negative’ thoughts to the back of mind, so that we don’t have to deal with them (an ‘out of sight, out of mind’ sort of approach), but by ignoring these thoughts, we are not addressing or solving them, meaning that nothing changes. Change can be scary, but more often than not, change is a good thing and the right direction for a better life.
Journaling is essentially self-reflection and self-development…leading to self-confidence! It’s about creating happiness for yourself. Who doesn’t want that?!
There is no right or wrong way to journal. It is a personal experience, so have fun figuring out what you want from journaling and how you want to do it. Some of you will write pages and pages until you feel like your hand is dropping off, but others may prefer point-form because that’s all you have time for. Do you want to write in relation to your day or do you want to answer specific prompts?
Having prompts is a good way to start journaling if you are new to the habit. They give you more direction and a reason to start. There are so many prompt books out there. I am on my third one (one per year) and it just happens to be the one I wrote (wink wink), which is now available on Amazon…in case you were wondering (wink wink)!!
There is apparently a difference between writing in a diary and journaling. A diary is a record of events, where as a journal is a record and exploration of your thoughts and feelings. Although, I say, why not do it all in one?!
Do you journal? How often?
I would love to hear how journaling has helped you!
