The Power of Journaling for Mental Health
When life feels chaotic, it can be difficult to pause and take a moment for yourself. But what if in just a few minutes a day, you were able to recenter your thoughts, manage your stress and process your emotions? This is just some of the many benefits of using journaling as a tool for your mental health.
What is Journaling?
Journaling involves writing down your thoughts, emotions and experiences in a way that feels right for you. This may be through a bulleted list, storytelling, self-reflections or even video journaling where you record your thoughts and feelings through a voice recording or video recording. One of the best parts about journaling is that there is no “right” way to do this, and you can change this activity to however it best suits you.
How Journaling Supports Mental Health
Stress Reduction
When you’re stressed and overwhelmed, you may feel that your thoughts are completely scrambled, which can cause increased feelings of anxiety. Having a space to write down your thoughts can help provide more clarity in your thinking, making you feel more relaxed.
Enhanced Self-Awareness
Journaling is a reflective tool that helps us expand into our inner worlds¹. By journaling, this enhances your self-awareness as it helps to become more attuned to our needs and values.
Improved Mood
Getting into a journaling routine has been linked to both increased emotions and decreased negative mood patterns. Through this, you can begin to track your mood patterns, write positive affirmations to yourself and celebrate your wins.
Problem-Solving
Journaling can help you to work through your challenges that you may be having. If you feel stuck in a situation, writing down your thoughts related to these problems can give you new perspectives and possible solutions.
How to Get Started
Interested in trying to journal? Here are some simple tips to get you started:
Take 5 minutes a day to do a brain dump. Write down all of the thoughts that have been bothering you throughout the day within those 5 minutes. Once finished, put your journal away until the next day. This will help you get into a journaling routine.
Try using prompts to give your creativity a spike. Sometimes it can be difficult to journal because you may not know what to write. Having different prompts for your journal entry may give you support in being intentional with your journaling.
There are different ways of journaling, and your journal can be whatever you want it to be. Some people enjoy doing bullet journaling while others may do art journaling or video journaling. Testing out different journaling types may be a great way to find what works best for you.
Being honest and non-judgemental with yourself can help you be authentic with your journaling. Remember, journaling is your time to focus on you, your needs and your emotions.
Final Thoughts
Journaling is a way to help you begin understanding more about yourself through your own reflections. Whether you’re seeking more clarity in your life or are going through a difficult time, journaling can be a powerful tool to help in your journey to healing and growth.
Sources
Crawford, A., Sellman, E., & Joseph, S. (2021). Journaling: A more mindful approach to researching a mindfulness-based intervention in a junior school. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 20.
Samantha Burns, MA, LPC
Samantha is the administrative assistant for Flourish Counseling & Wellness. Samantha is a Licensed Professional Counselor in Colorado and enjoys working with adolescents and young adults who are experiencing challenges with trauma, depression and anxiety.