If you’ve ever gotten professional help for your mental health, one of the most common coping mechanisms they’ll suggest is journaling. Not to mention, you’ll find this in any and every self-help book, self-care Tik Tok, and your favorite influencer posting their copy of “The Five Minute Journal” on their Instagram stories. So why do therapists swear by it? How can writing a few words each day do anything for your mental health? I was a skeptic too. I didn’t believe that simply writing in a journal would heal me. Not to mention, it took so much out of me just to open my journal- and still does. But if you stick with it (long-term), I promise you’ll see a glimmer of progress each week.
Diaries
I’ve always kept a diary since I was little. I would write about my parent’s fights, boys I had a crush on at school, and all the petty friendship drama throughout the school years. Essentially, I’ve been journaling my whole life, and I didn’t even realize it. I didn’t keep up with that diary. High school and college I fell off and couldn’t get myself to write again. As I read back on old diary entries, I've realized how bad my memory truly is. I’m someone who gets over things quite easily- especially when it comes to my friends and family. As quick as I forgive, I forget. Having my feelings documented somewhere- the good, the bad and the ugly- helps remind me of the moments I felt ecstatic about something (like getting my driver’s license etc.), to the growing pains I had to face (my parent’s divorce, heartbreak etc.).
You might be wondering WHY I would want documentation of the bad times? My answer is simple. To remind and prove to myself that I’ve gotten through it before, and if I’ve gotten through it before, I can get through it again.
Journaling in 2021
Let’s specifically talk about the beginning of this year- 2021. I decided to buy a journal along with the Five Minute Journal everyone raves about. (I’m not great with keeping up with the Five Minute Journal, but if you can stick to it, I’m sure it’s worth it). I decided to start journaling because my mental health had taken a severe dip. All I knew was that I wasn’t happy, and I couldn’t pinpoint why that was. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that I took up journaling. My mental health and other issues inevitably got worse throughout the year, but if I didn’t have my thoughts written out from the very beginning, I wouldn’t have ever figured out why things got so bad. At the end of the summer, the health issues I dealt with had blurred all feelings I felt the first half of the year. I decided to take on therapy again around September, and before my first session I decided to read back some of these old entries. I figured out some root issues, before I even began the first therapy session. I didn’t even realize how cluttered my mind was. Analyzing these journal entries helped me discover the cause of all events that followed soon after (especially health wise).
One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Even if it’s one line, write it down. You’ll start to see patterns on which thoughts and feelings are reoccurring. It also doesn’t have to be as deep as what your mind is going through. Make it anything you want it to be, even if it's just drawing a picture. Before I “officially” began journaling this year, I did a lot of research on it. I wanted to know exactly what people were journaling about and what works for them. I was trying to figure out how can I maximize this method to it’s full potential. However, I soon realized that people journal in different ways that fit their life. There’s not a one size fits all. Full transparency, I don’t write every day or even every week. But when I haven’t journaled in a while, I can feel it. When my thoughts start getting intertwined, I know it’s time to get back to pen and paper.
Negative Journaling
I want to also mention that I struggled with going back to my journal many times, because I would say really hurtful things to myself. I would hate-write about myself, and for this reason it would be hard to pick up- especially during rough patches. In this new process of being gentle with myself, I had to learn how to strike a balance. Some days, I don’t pick up my journal for this reason. Other days, I still write negative thoughts about myself. I recommend if you are journaling, to also have a therapist you can discuss these issues with. We don’t always know what to do, and having an unbiased pair of ears can really help heal what you’re going through. Sometimes you know WHAT the problem is, but not always HOW to fix it.
How I Journal
Here are some examples of how I’ve used my journal this year.
The first couple of weeks that I started journaling, I wrote down my immediate feelings, three things I’m grateful for and the time of day.
At some point, I ended up dropping the things I’m grateful for, and just wrote how I was feeling every few days (and why).
One day, I wrote out a list of every single thing stressing me out.
I was put on antidepressants mid-May and my doctor had asked me to start tracking my mood. This lasted only a couple of days, because my health issues started getting worse, and I didn’t pick back up until end of July.
My first journal entry back- I listed out goals for myself. I broke those down further into categories (physically, romantically, career-wise, spiritual/religious, mind/soul).
After this, my journal entries were lists of topics I wanted to discuss with my therapist each week.
One day, I randomly decided to write about a really special day I had- that I wanted to remember forever.
I started writing again about good and bad days.
My journal entries then turned into my anxiety/agoraphobia progress updates. I would sit down every couple of weeks, and list out the progress I’ve made (places I’ve been to), and rating my anxiety at each place.
My second to last blog post was another in-depth categorized entry on how I’m feeling in each aspect of my life.
And the last one I’ve written so far are my goals for 2022.
I know I’m being very open and raw about what I’ve been journaling about and how. People always tell you to journal, but never on how they journal and the specific things they write about. You don’t have to write the same way I do, but I hope it’s at least a starting point if you don’t know where to begin.
Not only can you use journaling as a mood tracker, but there’s something interesting that happens when you put your thoughts to paper. As soon as I write them down, those thoughts no longer have an attachment to me. And the size to which they were in my head, reduces as I visualize them on paper. It’s a release that’s almost cathartic to witness.
I hope this motivated you to at least buy a journal! As the new year approaches, I do believe it’s a practical new habit we all can use to heal our heart and soul.
-love, Sof
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