And The Lessons I Learned
I used to love opening a new journal this time of year.
It always felt like a new beginning, full of hope and possibilities.
An opportunity to make this year the year I was finally going to be organized, grateful, eat healthier, exercise, or whatever big resolution I had going into a brand new year.
I wrote every day without fail. The beautiful blank pages called out to me, and I embraced it with whispered words in the neatest handwriting I could muster.
By the middle of February, my daily practice dwindled, and I banished my journal to a shelf in my home office where journals, planners, and good intentions go to die.
It wasn’t that I didn’t like to write, in fact, it was quite the opposite. I loved writing but my daily journaling started to feel like a chore, and quite honestly, I don’t like chores.
What I’ve come to realize is that my failure to journal had nothing to do with writing. It wasn’t killing my creativity as I had led myself to believe. (After all, hadn’t the likes of Dorothy Wordsworth and Virginia Woolf become quite famous for jotting down their musings in their dairies.)
No. The reason I stopped journaling was merely my inability to write in a way that made sense to me.
Staring at the blank pages, I came to the obvious conclusion that I simply didn’t know how to journal.
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone.
If you want to know why I started journaling again and why you should too, then grab that abandoned journal from the shelf, dust it off, and look at it again.
This time don’t look at it as a journal.
Instead, I want you to look at it as a natural stress reliever because research shows that journaling is the quickest and easiest way to relieve stress. (No, it’s not a glass of wine like we were always led to believe!)
Writing Relieves Stress!
One of the biggest reasons many of us stop journaling is because we don’t know what to write.
You might think you need to list what you’re grateful for every day or write down all your hopes, goals, and aspirations for the year. All these things can definitely be inspiring to see written down on paper but have you sat down and just written whatever pours out?
“It’s not the load that breaks you down. It’s the way you carry it.” ~ C.S. Lewis
Sitting down in a quiet space and letting your words flow out freely releases all the thoughts, worries, and feelings you’ve kept bottled up inside.
It frees your mind of all the stress you’ve been storing up throughout the day. When you feel overwhelmed, frustrated, or anxious, dust off that journal, sit down and write.
It doesn’t have to make sense.
What you write may not be pretty or make any sense. It may not be logical, it may be completely irrational, but it will be real.
Allow yourself to be vulnerable and pour your heart and mind onto that blank page. Your journal is there to listen to your thoughts and feelings; it doesn’t judge, blame, or shame so let go of whatever you’re holding on to.
Your journal is your own delicious little secret.
Writing is a great decision maker.
When you can’t find an answer to a problem, write it down. Seeing the words in black and white can free it from the confines of our messy minds, and it often becomes easier to see the solution to a problem.
Problems are often much bigger when we keep them locked up in our minds which is why writing has proven to be extremely therapeutic for strengthening emotional and mental health.
https://medium.com/@alicya/three-simple-ways-to-help-build-emotional-health-d7f9d5e0d34
“Writing down what’s in your heart and mind is like listening and understanding yourself at the same time.” ~ unknown
So, when times get messy, as they always do, put your phone away and give yourself some love. Make yourself a cup of tea, find a quiet place to sit, and write.
Just write.
