Talking to a friend at a time of crisis is something that always helps me feel better. Getting advice from an unrelated third-party is always a good idea as it aids me in remaining as grounded as possible. When another person is not an option, or when you are trying to reduce stress levels on a daily basis without feeling like you bother people, journaling is for you. There are a lot of benefits to keeping a journal, the most important one of which is that it helps you alleviate emotional discomfort by pouring it out on the pages, rather than keeping it bottled up.
There are many things that we experience on a daily basis that we don’t even realize bother us. Writing in a journal at the end of every day will let off some steam that you weren’t even aware you were holding in. There are also other positive effects to keeping a journal:
- Writing in a journal helps keep you in the moment and evokes mindfulness. We often go through the motions of life without being properly present in them. It’s like being on automatic or staring into space without realizing what’s happening around you. Writing in a journal makes you realize what has happened to you and around you on that day and will help bring you back to where you physically are.
- Another benefit is that writing in a journal is proven to help with memory. Imagine sitting down every evening and writing down what had happened throughout that day – every event that is worth mentioning, how you felt about what had happened, and so on – recalling the events every single day will undoubtedly boost memory.
- Journaling helps you heal. When I was trying to get over a breakup (hey, we’ve all been there), I decided that I would start writing down my thoughts in a journal every day. While the paper doesn’t listen or talk back, there is something therapeutic about writing down what I was feeling that helped me process my emotions and pain and helped me heal faster than I would have without it.
- Bonus: One of the best parts of journaling was how it went from writing down things casually to being the basis for my blog. Writing in a journal was essentially the groundwork for gaining the confidence I needed in my writing to begin my own blog.
Journaling can’t have a negative effect on you and your life. While it may bring up unresolved issues that you may have been keeping under wraps, which lead to feeling a little worse for wear than usual, eventually, writing things down will only help you.
