As we’ve evolved, we’ve developed the ability to think. From thinking, we have developed the tendency to overthink. This usually involves us over-complicating and over-intellectualising things when there are often simple solutions. We end up holding lots of thoughts, ideas and information in our head and can quickly become stressed and overwhelmed. One of my favourite ways to manage this is through journaling. Maybe journaling is something you’ve tried or know would be helpful in theory, but perhaps have some resistance to. Like most things, real value is gained by putting theory into action. In this blog, we’ll take a look at three key benefits of journaling to see if this motivates you to give it a go!
Three Key Benefits of Journaling
Putting pen to paper through a journaling practice can have a profound impact on our wellbeing. There are far more than three benefits of journaling, but in the spirit of managing overwhelm, let’s focus on three for now.
Journaling for Stress Relief
Life isn’t neat and tidy and we all experience stress at times, to varying degrees. We feel stressed when the demands of life feeling greater than our ability to manage them at a given time. This takes up a lot of headspace and mental energy. We can find ourselves running through mental to do lists and pre-empting further stressors that may come our way. By doing this, we can find that we are preoccupied with something in our mind rather than the task we are supposed to be focusing on. Our productivity can decline and leave us feeling the back foot. And this becomes another source of stress.
Vicious cycles can develop quickly. Journaling is one way to break this cycle by getting all off this stuff out of our heads and onto paper. It can free up mental headspace. By writing privately, we can express ourselves openly. By using words, we can become better able to understand and process what we are feeling. And if we know how we feel, we are in a much stronger position to do something about it.
Journaling for Self-Awareness and Personal Development
How often do you rush through a day on auto-pilot, and then crash out in front of the TV at the end of it? When you go for a walk, run or hit the gym, do you have quiet time or do you listen to music or podcasts? How comfortable do you feel about having time to think?
We have more thoughts than we could possibly count on any given day but they often feel like internal noise amongst all the external noise surrounding us. Sometimes the external noise is deliberate because we no longer feel comfortable with our thoughts and so we look for ways to quieten them or block them.
Journaling provides space to slow down and focus on yourself with intention, and without distraction. By making the time and choice to tune in to how you feel and what you think about things, you build self-awareness. And with self-awareness comes personal growth and development. We can’t change what we think and how we feel without knowing what we think and feel in the first place.
Journaling for Creative Problem-Solving
The act of writing activates a different part of the brain that is used to when we type or speak. Research suggests that writing on paper supports our learning because we are able to retain more information in our memory this way. Writing things downs helps us organise our thoughts. In doing so, we can start to see things differently and gain new perspectives.
We all have negative thoughts attached to fear and unwanted outcomes at times, and sometimes these thoughts and feelings can stop us from taking action. Writing creates a sense of distance from our thoughts that offers us objectivity. Its not unusual to find that a thought is much scarier in our mind than on paper. When we see it on a page, we can recognise our fears may be irrational. We can then move past these blockers and focus on better and more creative problem solving. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve written about something that has suddenly been transformed to a non-issue when it’s out of my head and on a page!
Give it a go.
When it comes to self-care and wellbeing, there are a number of simple habits and practices we can build that hold a surprising amount of power. There are so many benefits of journaling, that it’s worth giving it a go. You don’t have to make a big thing of it. Start small, with maybe 10-minutes at the start or end of your day to write about how you are feeling. Try not to think too much about it. Have a go at writing whatever pops into your head and see what you notice. If this feels too broad and daunting, download a free copy of our Weekly Wellbeing Tracker to use as a framework.
Updated July 2024.
