Hello all. Journaling may seem a tedious task, something that eats away at precious time. And, yes, that’s completely what it is. But take a step back and look at it like this: anything you do eats at your precious time; breathing, going to the restroom, scrolling mindlessly through the bottomless list of tweets and Insta posts. (That last one is a real soul sucker, let me tell you.) So if it’s improvement you seek to even a fraction of your habits, here is a list of reasons why journaling would be beneficial to your well-being in the long run. 

Imagine hyper-focusing at a singular patch of dirt, a small patch in need of a search for something. You shovel into it looking for that treasure, that priceless imagination hidden under there. You find the box, open it and come the epiphanies to your personal thoughts, emotions and goals. Journaling is a vehicle to undressing the hazy mind. It’s a chance, a break in the day to step away from fast-pace rat race. Our thoughts travel fast as cars on superhighways, us not getting a chance to take in the beauty of singular moments. But journaling hacks that, time itself. It’s a chance to list the things we need to do, the things that ail our lives and if we can dissect those problems, well, my friend, isn’t that a step closer to fixing out problems without the cost of a therapist?

And that’s another point: cost. You don’t need to invest in a Moleskin or LEUCHTTURM1917, although they’re plenty fancy and you can. Dollar stores, even Amazon, hold fairly sturdy composition books to get you started. Pens and pencils I’m sure exist anywhere one looks: in cars, in the local mom and pop shop, in your classroom and school resource center. Don’t rock yourself short, the material is dirt cheap and that should be sufficient enough a starting point for anybody interested. 

But let’s get back to some more exciting benefits: improvements in mental and physical health. 

Although journaling isn’t, or can’t, be a replacement for professional medical and/or mental help, studies help us see that it does decrease levels of stress, anxiety and depression. These three are closely linked together, so if at least one is positively affected with journaling, the foundations of the others will also be overcome with positivity. Apart from that, practicing with this form of writing frequently is equivalent to that of meditation. As stated above, it gives us a chance to slow down our thoughts and pull apart the threads of our ailments. Through this meditation of journaling, studies have shown that a person’s stress levels decrease which leads to more controlled attention, regulated emotions, and self-awareness. Journaling also improves studying and learning abilities causing actual changes to the make-up of the brain.

As for physical health, journaling can actually strengthen the immune system and speed up the time it takes to heal from injuries. Hard to believe, huh. Remember from earlier how improvements in either stress, anxiety or depression can affect the rest? Well journaling lowers stress-related hormones like cortisol which, in high levels for long periods of time, can weaken the immune system and slow down healing times. 

Now I’ve been journaling on and off for the past six years, sometimes strung through periods of days and weeks at a time, sometimes only once every month or two. The best days I’ve found have been the ones where I had written anything at all continuously through days and weeks at a time. Those times had given me a chance to step away from the hustle of the ever-evolving world, to really think and consider myself and my situations. Sure there are days where work gets the best of you, where unexpected events like errands or bouts of lethargy get to you. Do what your body tells you, you shouldn’t have to force yourself to write. Journaling should be fun, something to look forward to when you’re in that zone. 

The great thing about journaling is that you can always revisit memories to write them down. That journal will always be there. So try it out for a while and you may just get to experience the joys of meditating on your own wonderful self.

Let me know in the comments if journaling is something you do and what it’s done for you! I’d love to hear your thoughts!