One of my prized possessions is my small, leather journal from Barnes and Noble. What appears to be a flimsy, cheap notepad to others is one of the only things that makes sense to me. Each page is filled with vulnerability, tear (or coffee) stains, "Dear God," my excitement for life, or smudged pen marks. Multiple journals before this one got tossed aside; I found no motivation to write in them. Growing up, I knew journaling was "aesthetic," so I forced myself to write every. single. day. I wanted to be considered "put together," but my writing was meaningless. My heart was not involved; therefore, the act of journaling was ineffective. Writing became a chore, and every journal was placed back on my bookshelf to be untouched.
Freshman year of high school concluded, and I found myself in Barnes and Noble looking at, yet another, journal that I knew would be used sparingly. I found one that caught my eye and asked my mother if I could have it. When she was little, she had a journal that she loved to write poems, words, emotions, etc., so she has always encouraged me to do the same. My first entry was on June 4th, 2019; from that day forward, I have kept this journal in sight and in hand for the past five and a half years.
The reason I never placed this one back on the bookshelf with all the others was because I stopped seeing writing as a chore. I wrote on June 4th, June 5th, and then June 16th, then June 29th, and so on. I wrote when my heart yearned to; I wrote when I had too much to bear. My mindset shifted from, "I have to write," to "I get to write," and let me tell you, I never stopped picking up the pen after that.
I can sit here and tell you all about the benefits of journaling in my eyes, but second opinions are always better. I gathered resources to explain to a T why I consider journaling to be one of the healthiest things you can do for your mind.
In "The Psychological Benefits of Writing About Past Trauma," Jordan Peterson expresses that alongside working out, writing is proven to be beneficial for the physical and psychological needs of your body. He emphasizes that many see the differences journaling has on the mind after three to six months of continuous practice. He supports this claim by measuring the physical needs based on how many times one goes to their physician and the psychological needs based on one's mental health improvement. He continues to explain that the mind uses past trauma events to trigger warnings when faced with a similar situation. When you have a lot of unresolved issues, you will always have your guard up in case of an emergency. He describes journaling as a "map" to decipher the ideal approach to handle a reoccurring issue. If you begin to write down what you go through, your emotions, and all the other good stuff, you can flip back and reflect on how you diffused the problem and how you can diffuse your current one. Watch the whole video: https://youtu.be/dcfNwx5vfR0?si=TWTDJKHgxWQShQGd
In 17 Surprising Benefits of Journaling, written by Sara Bence (OTR/L) from Very Well Health, Bence goes into depth on how the act of journaling is valuable for mental health. She disperses the benefits into three categories--physical, mental, and academic. I highly recommend you click the link and check out her lists. She continues to point out different styles of journaling, how to start, and multiple prompts to kickstart. The link: https://www.verywellhealth.com/journaling-7498123
This next source prioritizes the effects of journaling on mental health. I encourage you to become educated on mental health regardless since it is so common in our modern day, but for the sake of this entry, here is the link to how journaling can improve mental health: https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-benefits-of-journaling
A random, silly fact about me is I think about my future children more than a normal person probably does. I save keepsakes for them to look at, I take millions of photos that way I can provide pictures to complement the stories I tell them, and I journal about random events, deep emotions, or people so they can understand their mother more than anyone else does. My close circle knows what I am talking about because there are times when I am like, "I cannot wait to show my future family this photo of us," or something along the lines. Am I in any rush to start a family? Absolutely not. Am I certain I will in the future? Absolutely.
I am explaining this because journaling is, in fact, a tool for me to use in times of pure joy, distress, sadness, etc., but it can also be a tool for so many others in my life. If my friend is going through a similar situation that I have experienced, I tend to let them read my journal. If someone impacted me so deeply, I will write about them to show them later on. I say journal instead of diary because my journal is for public use, rather a diary is more personal. Over the summer, my beautiful friend asked to write me something, and I, of course, encouraged her to. It was on the Fourth of July, and she sat on the beach and proceeded to write for about twenty-ish minutes. After writing, she refused to let me read it until she was not in sight (the picture above is one sentence she wrote, is she not so sweet?) Let's just say, once I read it, we were sobbing. Such a cute human moment, and I can look back in any time of need and read her kind words. How freaking cool and personable is that? Not only do I get to read it whenever, but my future kids can understand who I was through a friend's eye way back when.
Give it a shot; you may be pleasantly surprised. Journaling is so freaking cool, and it is so special to be able to look back and view what your past self wrote. Not only will it help you grow mentally, but it will help you mature emotionally. You will be so in touch with who you are and who you want your future self to be. You, genuinely, just have to pick up the pencil. It does not need to be formal, grammatically correct, or in MLA format. You. just. have. to. write. Write about your day, how you feel, your environment, if you had an uplifting conversation or heck, what you had for breakfast. Anything--it is yours to choose and that is the beauty of it.
Write in the car, your room, outside or inside, in the bath, with a friend, etc. Write when you wake up, when you go to bed, after a workout, after you hang out with a family member or friend, etc. You pick the time, and you pick how long. You can simply write two sentences and put the journal down (I have days like that, too). You will find that after you put your pencil or pen down, your mind will feel clearer. If it doesn't, keep going because you must have a lot more thoughts. There are days when I romanticize journaling with music, nature, colored utensils, or a cup of coffee in a cute little cafe; and there are days when I just need to write with a pen running out of ink.
I encourage you to try it once, twice, or a good dozen amount of times. I encourage you to do more research on it and also research on mental health as a whole. So if you are looking for a sign to go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a journal, this is it!
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