As with all trends, it can feel like journalling went out of fashion as quickly as it came in. But should we give it another chance? Are there long-term benefits for giving journalling a go? Studies have proven that journalling can reduce stress, anxiety and depression, as well as improve memory and problem-solving skills.
As a long-time journaler myself, I very much put faith in the benefits of putting your thoughts onto paper. Over the reading week, I rediscovered my old high school journals, and whilst it was rather cringey to re-read my interpretation of the many friendship fallouts and drama of year seven, it also showed me a couple of major benefits of journaling. Not only do I now have a nice collection of memories to look back on from my school days, but I also realised that almost every single thing I had been worried about or annoyed about was so completely irrelevant and had no impact on my life afterwards. Journalling is a great way to put into perspective the things that are plaguing your mind; writing it all down and reading it back allows you to approach issues more logically, as they are out of your head and can be dealt with more coherently. You can either realise a solution to your problem more easily or discover that it is not the massive deal you thought it was; a win-win situation!
Staying consistent with journalling is key to reaping its benefits but is also one of the hardest things to do. Building it into a habit is important; try to take five to ten minutes every day to write something – it can be just one event that happened that you have lots of thoughts about or more long-winded about everything you did that day. It really does not matter, what is important is making it consistent and writing about what feels right to you.
When something, particularly within wellness, becomes trendy, it is easy to feel like there is a “right” way to do it. You need the coolest notebook, an aesthetic writing location, and the perfect writing structure. Thoughts like this limit people from participating in something that could be genuinely useful to them because they feel they won’t do it correctly. However, like most wellness hobbies, everyone’s journalling will look different and all that matters is that it feels right to YOU. If you go about it in the way that you want, you are much more likely to stick to it and enjoy it as a hobby and part of your wellness journey. Writing about what you want to, whether that be ranting about your day, reflecting on different discussions, or just reciting what occurred, journalling is a truly healthy way of processing the events going on in your life, and is a hobby suitable for everyone.
Photo by Marcos Paulo Prado on Unsplash