Journaling is a bit like salad. It’s one of those things you know is good for you but easily dismiss when times get tough. Now and again, you’ll reach for it and make one in a hurry. But without the right flavours, without the right toppings, it all feels a little bland.
But journaling is one of the best things you can do for your mental health.You just need to know where to start, what flavours to add and how to make it interesting. You’ve got to find your flavour.
Once you’ve made the decision to journal for your mental health, it starts to ebb its way into your daily routine.
Ideally, you’ll find a type of journaling that you really enjoy. One that you look forward to and becomes a natural part of your daily routine.
A bit like habit stacking, your journal automatically becomes a nudge to focus on this often neglected part of your life. Your mind.
The mental load can be heavy when you’re carrying it around with you every day.
You know that feeling when you’ve just shared a problem with someone? How it doesn’t feel quite so gigantic anymore? Journaling gives you that feeling too. It works because it holds space for your mental health.
Sometimes, you’ll just need a place to prepare your thoughts before you share them out loud. Other times, you might not have someone immediately available to talk to. But journaling’s always available to you, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. And it’ll never press its agenda on you.
It doesn’t have an opinion. It’s just there to listen.
When you get your thoughts out of your head and down onto the page, you can see them. It’s probably the most low-tech way to actually look at what’s going on inside your head.
You can dive deeper into your thoughts, create a plan to support them and detect any potential patterns or triggers for your mental health.
We always recommend speaking with a mental health professional. Even if you don’t think it’s “that bad”, therapy is one of the best ways to get to know yourself. It’s important to find someone who’s the right fit for you, who you feel comfortable sharing your feelings with.
But, even when that person’s the perfect fit, it’s still 100% natural to feel nervous about sharing your highs and lows with them.
When your mind goes blank or your thoughts get jumbled, your journal can be a useful tool to refer back to in your sessions.
It’s too easy to pretend that everything’s fine when answering the question “how are you?”.
We naturally forget the bad bits and want to remember the good, our brain likes to dissociate itself from those tricky memories.
Your journal makes sure that you don’t live in denial. It allows you to see how you really feel, so you know when it’s time to do something about it and reach out for help.
Tracking your daily mood and emotions is an incredible habit, as it allows you to see both the highs and the lows.
Often, we only reach for our journal when we’re feeling down. But by logging your mood on the daily, you can match it to different activities, the people you spent your time with and plenty of other things to spot any patterns that might be influencing your mental health.
Most people think of Morning Pages as a practice for your creativity but we love using this as a way of journaling for your mental health. There’s nothing quite like getting all that mental chatter out of your head before the day begins.
You’ll be surprised as to what comes up. Sometimes, it’ll seem insignificant and mundane. Others, it’ll give you food for thought. Perhaps even nudging you to add a little more ease into the day ahead now you’ve checked in with how you’re feeling.
When your stress levels are rising and you can feel the anxiety setting in, reach for your journal.
As we said above, it’s always there for you. Keep it stashed in your bag, in your car, next to your desk. And get that problem out of your head and onto the page (but please, always, reach out for professional help when you need it).
Journaling for your mental health isn’t all about writing down the bad and uncovering your struggles (although that does help). It’s also about helping you to do the things that make you happy.
This is the ultimate to-do list. Your self-care list is a series of things that’ll make you feel good on that particular day, or a bank of joyful activities to draw on whenever you’re feeling blue (it’s easy to forget what we love when we’re feeling down). It’s all designed to add a little more light and love into your day.
Social media might be a highlight reel. But your journal can be a celebratory place, where you share the things you don’t want the rest of the world to know just yet.
The job offer you just received. The pregnancy news that isn’t ready to go public. The new friend you made at the coffee shop.
Write it in your journal. And celebrate yourself that little bit more.
When you need a little nudge to get you started with journaling for your mental health, pick one of the prompts below and give it a go. Try writing for just two minutes and see how you feel once that time is up.
Now you know journaling for your mental health doesn’t have to be complicated or technical. All it takes is you, a pen and some paper. And a willingness to begin.
Please check your email for confirmation.