The thing stopping people from journaling is not the action itself.
It’s the stigma around it, which can sometimes be the exact reason people never start or can’t they can’t stay consistent. And that’s the real thing about it.
As humans we have had the ability to communicate effectively with one another through speech. And we have an even greater ability to put that communication on paper.
Our whole lives someone has been forcing us to write: growing up in school, through college, at work. And I can’t forget about the endless forms you have to fill out. So most people look at writing as a chore, and journaling as some feelings ritual designed to make you emotional. But actually getting your thoughts on paper is way more beneficial than we give it credit for.
On average a person has between 6,000 and 80,000 thoughts a day. So marking those down in some way, shape, or form is actually a better activity than most people give it credit for. Your brain is constantly running. Journaling is just one of the ways you can keep up with it.
And it doesn’t stop there! Journaling can actually help heal your physical body too!
Your brain has a built in alarm system called the amygdala. When you’re stressed, anxious, or overwhelmed, it fires. Studies show that simply writing down what you’re feeling and putting a name to it makes the amygdala less active, almost immediately.
Therapists call this “name it to tame it” and it’s not just a saying. It actually shows up on brain scans. The moment you label what you’re feeling, your brain starts to calm down from it.
It even helps with how you deal with intense emotions later on in your day to day life. People who wrote about their feelings showed measurably better emotion regulation than people who wrote about neutral topics. The act of processing emotion on paper literally changes how your brain handles that same emotion the next time it comes up.
You’re not just venting …….you’re actually rewiring how you respond.
So ask yourself ……what’s really stopping you from picking up a journal right now?
Sources:
WebMD: Mental Health Benefits of Journaling https://www.webmd.com/mental-health/mental-health-benefits-of-journaling
Lifeline Australia : Journaling Your Thoughts and Feelings https://www.lifeline.org.au/get-help/support-toolkit/techniques-and-guides/journaling-your-thoughts-and-feelings
