How to Begin Journaling for your Mental Health
In this article, we will explore what journaling is, how it can help you with your mental health, and ways it can be used effectively with your self-care routine.
Life certainly can feel overwhelming and daunting, we are bombarded with information overload, whether socially, personally, or work-related. External pressures of society add to feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Studies have shown how journaling can reduce levels of depression, anxiety, and intrusive thoughts.
What is journaling
Journaling is a way to express, reflect, and gain insight into your thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Journaling can not only help with your mental health, but it also helps with your physical health. It can enhance sleep quality, improve your immune system, and help manage chronic pain.
There is no wrong way to journal, that is the beauty of it. You can be creative and have lots of fun with journaling, it’s not all about writing, you can draw, doodle, create a vision journal, or whatever suits you and helps you to externalise your inner thoughts and feelings. Furthermore, you can track your progress and see evidence of your journey and how far you have come.
Some ways you can journal
Expressive journaling
This is when we focus on our feelings and thoughts on an emotional level, avoiding thinking about the story or what happened, “how did it feel”. Write as spontaneously as you can, not worrying about spelling or punctuation, perhaps think of it as free-flowing writing. Typically this would be done for short intervals, say 20 minutes, and over maybe a week.
Gratitude journaling
A gratitude journal can be a great way to maintain your mental health, especially if you suffer from anxiety, low mood, and overwhelming feelings of distress.
Gratitude journaling is the habit of writing down the things we are grateful for, to begin with, particularly if this is a new practice, write down one thing you are thankful for today, it may be waking up this morning, or eating breakfast. Or it could be something bigger, such as passing your driving test or getting a new job.
The purpose of a gratitude journal is to focus your mind on the things you are grateful for, rather than the things which are not so good in your life right now.
Creative journaling
If writing is not suited to you, or you are a creative individual, creative journaling is for you. You can illustrate in your journal with magazine cuttings, calligraphy, or using different coloured pens, pencils, markers, and even paints. The scribbling, creating, and doodling are other means to express your thoughts and feelings if you are stuck with writing or cannot find the words. Plus, it is another way to practice mindfulness, helping to calm and relax your mind after a busy day.
Journaling helps with stress management, reducing anxiety, low mood, low self-esteem, self-limiting beliefs, anger management, and behaviors.
I would highly recommend journaling daily, it helps to notice patterns of behaviour, areas of improvement in our lives, and of course, our mental health, leading to an overall improvement of our entire being, as well as positively altering our mindset.
If you need further help and support, please get in touch.