I was planning on writing a blog post on journalling, but have been postponing it for a while, until a reader asked me to do something about managing stress and well-being, so I thought now was the perfect time to finally write about it...
I’ve started journalling a while back, and I love it: I get to reflect on my day as a whole, reminiscing all sorts of moments and wondering how I almost managed to forget some of them already and finding the positives that I paid no attention to. Journalling really is important as it is a form of self-care, allowing you to reflect and jot down your thoughts, feelings, and physical sensations. In fact, journalling is so good at finding the things you would have never paid attention to that it is used in some types of counselling and therapy.
Why should I journal?
Journalling gives you a space to take care of your emotional well-being, and personally grow through the use of self reflection and expression. Some scientific studies have found it to be very beneficial for those suffering from psychological conditions, but it's actually very helpful for everyone and anyone:
Journalling helps you express your emotions so that they don't get stuck inside you only for them to make you feel more and more tense.
Journalling helps you navigate stressful situations by allowing you to clear out your head to manage them better.
Journalling makes the decisions you need to make it clearer and easier to identify what to choose by keeping you aware of your needs and wants.
Journalling helps you identify and focus on the things that are more important to you.
Journalling strengthens your emotional resilience (it does give you a shoulder to cry on after all) and helps you find all the positives in your life so you can focus on them more.
Journalling helps you grow personally and create (or find) your creative expression and all your creativity.
What's more is that you can make journalling work for you: there's no right or wrong way to journal, so everything works in a way that suits you!
How Do I Journal?
There are many ways to journal, depending on why you are journalling, what you prefer to do, and how much time can you spend on journalling. It's been a while since I wanted to try another journalling method, and I was shocked to see all the different ways to do so (there are so many!). Here are some methods that you can pick and choose from and tailor to your preferences:
1) Bullet Journalling
Bullet journalling is like several journalling methods in one. It's an organised system, but allows you to go wherever you want with it. The pages to these journals usually have dots and it often provides a yearly, weekly and daily view of your life.
2) Freestyle / Braindump
You start of with an empty page, which could sound scary, but, once you put that pen on that paper, you just write and write and write about everything and anything that comes to mind. You can set a timer to create a set period for you to write in or you can write until you have written a certain amount of pages or until you feel you're done. The key is to never take your pen off the paper, even if you have to writing 'erm' or the likes a million times!
3) Gratitude Journal / 1:1:1
In this journal type, you write what you are grateful for at the end of the day. It doesn't take long and is nice and easy to do: you could either bullet point 3-10 things you are grateful for or you could use the 1:1:1 method which includes the following 3 things: 'Today's Win'; 'Something I'm Grateful For'; and 'Something I want to jot down' (which could also include whatever is worrying you).
4) One Second A Day / A Photo A Day
Now, this is something I definitely want to try! It is suitable for those who prefer to capture their lives visually and only takes a second of the day to record a brief clip or take a photo. There are apps that would put the images/videos together for you and in a matter of weeks, you'd be amazed at what you already have.
5) Artistic Journal / Sketchbook
For the artists out there, this is for you: you can now draw the highlights of your day instead of writing them out. These could be in the form of a graphic, or a little comic, whichever you like best.
6) Scrapbooks / Memory Journal
No, these methods are not the same as sketchbooks. In scrapbooks you can add little souvenirs like tickets, leaves etc. as well as writing little notes and drawing in it too. You can collect your memories here too by adding printed photographs. This method is rather fun and playful and is perfect for visual people and doesn't require too much text.
7) Line A Day
There are journals sold specifically for this method. Usually they come ready for 3 or 5 years. Each page is specified for 1 day in the year with different blocks on the page for each year so whenever you journal in it, you can read your entry exactly a year ago and imagine your entry for next year. As a result, you don't have to write much: just a sentence would be great.
8) Letter Journal
I've started using this more recently. It requires you to write a letter to whoever it is you want to direct the contents to. You don't have to send these letters as these letters may never be sent, but if you want to, you can. Whether you send it or not, it still helps you reflect on yourself and your mind as well as your life and relationships with others.
9) Reflection Journal
This journal only requires you to look back on your day and reflect on it, things that can be included are things you're grateful for, things that make you smile, the happiest moments in your life, people who have had a positive impact on you, your regrets and what you'd change about them. You can bullet point these out or find prompts online for other things you can include.
10) Pocket/Idea Journal
This journal would require a really small journal book that can fit into your pocket. Using it, you can always whip it out whenever you need and jot down any ideas that popped into your head before you forget them or you can reflect on what you're feeling, however, many may use free apps on their phones to do this instead such as Apple Notes (I know I do!).
11) Reading Journal
Whenever you come across something interesting, in whatever book you are reading, you can jot it down in your reading book. It could be a quote, insight, technical information etc. Whatever it is, it helps you remember the important things from that book and is great if you are part of a bookclub. Also you could use your reading journal to jot down your emotions and how certain events in your book make you feel, another perk for those in bookclubs.
12) Dream Journal
It is said that our hidden desires, wants, and needs are hidden away through symbolism in our dreams. You can remember your dreams and keep track of them by keeping a notebook and pen by your bed, so that whenever you wake up, you write your dreams down. It turns out, doing this helps with improving your memory and also helps you have more lucid dreams (which are dreams where you are conscious that you are asleep, but still feel like you are awake).
13) Productivity Journal
Productivity journals are a great way for you to track your success and achievements. They allow you to find out which tasks are the most important tasks of the day and make sure that you give them your all. As well as helping you prioritise, you can find out which tasks require the most energy, which will help you in deciding what to do first, and what to do next, optimising your work by minimising burnout.
14) Nature Journal
Studies have found that nature can really help with our mental health. All you have to do is spend some time in nature (that could be in your garden or a park) and pay attention to it. Write down what you can see and how it makes you feel. You can even draw what you see and note the changes you notice as the seasons go by!
Make Journalling Work For You
To make journalling work for you, you'll obviously have to find your style. Experiment with different journalling methods by spending a certain amount of time using them. For example, you can spend a month trying one journalling method before you spend the next month trying another. No method is perfect because everyone is different so you might find one journalling method better than the other whilst someone else may disagree.
You'll also have to integrate journalling into your routine, whether that is doing it in the morning or before you go to bed. Add it into your to do list as a task that you must complete and remember not to skip your journalling sessions for more than two days in a row otherwise you may lose the habit before you've even consolidated it (I'll make a blog post on the two minute rule sometime in the future). Create a time and a space for it, have your journal out with a pen ready by its side so that you can always see it, allowing it to continuously remind you that you'd like to journal and that it is easily accessible.
Your journal is yours and for no one else so you don't have to worry about it not being perfect. If time is against you, you don't need an entire half-hour slot to journal: it only takes a few minutes that you can find in between activities that you may have otherwise wasted. If you ever miss a day, it's ok, so do I! What you have to do is make sure that you keep going and never miss more than 2 days in a row.
Make sure that you remember why you are doing this in the first place and all the benefits of journalling. You are here to improve upon yourself and take better care of your well-being. If you ever get stuck, there are tons of prompts to help you get going online or you can buy a journal that already has all these prompts already in it.
Dear Journal- I Mean - Reader,
Journalling can be really beneficial as it helps you learn more about yourself and find different ways to navigate life. There are different ways to journal, depending on you as an individual, so feel free to try as many as you want and to manipulate them so that they suit you. You may already be journalling, but in your mind it's called something else, just like I found out with the idea journal and the reading journal. By the looks of things, you can do more than 1 type of journalling at once! But you must remember that in order to create a habit, you must start with a baby step and incorporate more aspects gradually.
That's all from me for today. I'll see you in my next post. Will you add this to your journal entry for today just like I probably will? ;P
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