Writing it Down
When I was in elementary school, I bought a diary at the school’s book fair. I thought it was so neat with it’s pretty pink cover and a lock and key to keep all my secrets safe. I had grand ideas of all of the things I would “tell” my diary.
As time would show, though, it turned into more of an account of my everyday life than anything truly secretive and telling. But, when I would flip through it years later it gave me a glimpse into my tween-age self and even brought back some sweet memories that were forgotten.
I don’t journal quite the same as I did back then. My notebook isn’t secured with a lock and key, and I don’t write in it daily. Sometimes I journal regarding a current struggle I am having, sometimes it’s to remember a certain joy in my family’s life, and often it’s in response to something I have heard or read and I need to process my thoughts and feelings. My journaling looks different now but the benefits that I had inadvertently received when I journaled then are still effective today.
Journaling can help your mental and emotional health in several ways. It’s more than just putting pen to paper. Writing down our thoughts has been shown to:
Reduce stress: Journaling can help process and overcome stress. There was a recent study that found that students who journaled about their anxiety over an upcoming test ended up performing better than those who did not write about it at all (Ramirez & Beilock, 2011).
Provide relief in hard times: When you feel depressed or anxious, writing about it provides an outlet. When you can put your thoughts into words, it causes them to stop swirling around in your mind and gives them a landing place. When you feel like you are ruminating on a thought over and over, get your journal and write it all down.
Improve memory: Writing your thoughts down gives you more brain space and mental capacity to take on other tasks, improving your memory over time.
Aid in emotional well-being: Repeated journaling can help improve your emotional intelligence, the ability to understand, use, and manage your own emotions in positive ways. When you process through your written words, it gives your brain time to process and think through scenarios, allowing you to gain more perspective on different situations.
You don’t have to be a writer or a creative to get into journaling. In fact it can look like several things. You can bullet journal, writing your thoughts down in bullet point form. It can look like carrying a blank notebook with you to write down thoughts that come to mind. A journal focused on gratitude can help the mind turn back to thankfulness on a daily basis. If you are more digitally minded, there are even apps that can help ease you into the world of journaling such as Day One, Diarium, Penzu, and Five Minute Journal.
Reference: Ramirez, G. & Beilock, S. L. (2011). Writing about testing worries boosts exam performance in the classroom. Science. Retrieved from https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1199427.
Challenges/Points:
Journaling can be a way to help us work through our stress and anxiety.
Writing down our thoughts has been shown to increase our ability to handle our emotions in a positive way.
There are multiple electronic apps out there that can help introduce you to the habit of journaling.
Questions:
Do you journal?
Which method sounds like the one you would be most interested in trying?
If you do journal, what have you found to be the biggest benefit of doing so?
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