Journaling

When you were younger, you might have kept a diary hidden under your mattress. It was a place to confess your struggles and fears without judgment or punishment. It likely felt good to get all of those thoughts and feelings out of your head and down on paper. The world seemed clearer.

Though having a diary is something that used to be attributed to girls only, we have grown. We realized boys need to be able to express how they feel also without being made to feel less than masculine.

Whether male or female, you may have stopped using a diary once you reached adulthood. But the concept and its benefits still apply. Now it’s called journaling. It’s simply writing down your thoughts and feelings to understand them more clearly. And if you struggle with stress, depression, or anxiety, keeping a journal can be a great idea. It can help you gain control of your emotions and improve your mental health.

Keep in mind, whereas a “diary” provides a detailed record of daily activities and events, “journaling” is a method of recording one’s thoughts, feelings, and insights into things. Whereas diaries are event-oriented, journals are thought-oriented.

One of the ways to deal with any overwhelming emotion is to find a healthy way to express yourself. This makes a journal a helpful tool in managing your mental health. Journaling can help you manage anxiety, reduce stress, cope with depression, and so much more.

Journaling helps control your symptoms and improve your mood by:

• Helping you prioritize problems, fears, and concerns

• Tracking any symptoms day-to-day so that you can recognize triggers and learn ways to better control them

• Providing an opportunity for positive self-talk and identifying negative thoughts and behaviors

When you have a problem and you’re stressed, keeping a journal can help you identify what’s causing that stress or anxiety. Once you’ve identified your stressors, you can work on a plan to resolve the problems and reduce your stress.

If you are a Christian, you can take it a step further and allow God to speak to you — and your journaling becomes a spiritual experience as well. If you are interested in understanding Spiritual Journaling, let me know.