Journal practice

People journal for many reasons. For me, I think its most useful benefit is that it helps me to take care of my mental health. When my mind is racing, I pull out a journal to calm down and clear my thoughts. When I feel a particularly strong emotion, writing about it in my journal helps me reconcile my emotions and my thoughts.

For me, it's easiest to journal when "inspiration" strikes. Therefore, it's important for me to have access to my journal whenever I might need it. Sometimes the ideas and thoughts just flow.

For other people, I've heard that journaling at a regular time and making it a habit works best. Different strokes for different folks, as they say!

I prefer typing my journal, because it allows me to get my ideas out more quickly than I would if I had to write by hand. Also, by keeping my journal on my computer, it's easier for me to keep my entries organized.

I don't share my journal with others, so I'm beholden only to myself. This helps me to be as honest as possible with my reflections. I trust myself to be solution-oriented with myself, which gives me the confidence to write out things that I might find hard to admit in my thoughts alone. This could include ways where I can be better, instances when I might've been wrong, and less than flattering thoughts I might have.

I have learned that I need to actively think about my feelings in order to understand them, in many cases. Journaling helps me to understand my reasoning, to see whether I'm being rational, to consider other people and their actions, and basically to take a step back and analyze the situations that play out in my life more objectively. When I'm in the thick of things (aka most of the time, because I'm living my life), it's easy to want to give in to emotions and reactions instead of considered thought.

Prose, poetry, lists, short notes... again, the important thing is to start to get the ides out.

Many people swear by daily journaling, even if it's just a sentence or two. I prefer writing longer entries, but at longer intervals. I don't doubt that daily journaling could be very valuable, but I've had to de-prioritize it relative to certain other daily tasks and habits I'm trying to develop.

When I first started journaling, I sometimes felt blocked by the thought that I had nothing to say. Feeling the need to say something put a lot of pressure on me and made me not want to journal. To combat this, I just started writing and tried to relieve myself of expectations. In doing so, I found that I actually had plenty to say, and I was able to draw a lot of value out of journaling. I think the point of this anecdote is: sometimes the good stuff requires a bit of digging.

This helps me to identify trends in my thoughts, feelings, actions, and approaches. It also shows me ways in which I've grown.

My biggest takeaway of all! I'm convinced that everyone can benefit from journaling; it's just a matter of getting started.