Dear Diary,
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| Amazon, 2023 |
Wow how lucky that I just happened to come across you writing in your secret diary. Don't be mad...be thankful that I found this because I'm going to share with you some of my top journaling tips to give you some inspiration and hopefully help you get into a great journaling routine that makes you so emotionally intelligent that you're absolutely unstoppable to whatever life throws at you.
So in the words of Greg Hefley, taken straight from his JOURNAL (not diary), let's take a look at how we can write down our feelings or whatever...
*I am in no way a trained health professional or psychologist, I am just providing insight into some experiences that I have had and techniques that work for me. Please seek professional help if you are struggling with your mental health*
1. What is the point of journaling in the first place?
Journaling, for me, is like a release of thoughts and feelings. Have you ever just felt heavy and overwhelmed because there is so much going on up top in your brain? Journaling can be a great strategy to use to alleviate this pressure. I find that by writing my thoughts, feelings and emotions down, they now belong in the book and I no longer have to carry them around in my head. If I need to go back to them, I know where to find them, but they do not need to take up space inside my head anymore. This is quite a freeing feeling if you can successfully mentally grasp this concept.
Another excellent benefit to journaling is that it can help to organise your thoughts. Sometimes if there's a lot going on it can be difficult to organise everything in your head. It's like trying to do differential calculus in your head. Whether you have any idea what I'm talking about or not, I'm sure you can guess that it's a lot easier to get the right answer when you write down your working out with pen and paper (turns out my maths teacher was right about this one). The same goes with your thoughts, feelings and emotions. Writing them out so that you can see them clearly in front of you can help to organise them and assist in rationalising and ultimately finding a solution.
2. When is a good time to journal and how often should I do it?
The best time to journal is a completely individual experience, and there is no way for me to determine this for anyone except for myself. What I can say is try and pick a time that will allow you to journal at the same time for each session, that way it becomes a part of your routine; a habit that no longer requires motivation but is just a non-negotiable in your life (this is proper science, see my blog post on habits if you're interested: The Science Of Habits Pt. 1). In terms of how often you should be journaling, I aim to journal everyday, however always for varying amounts of time depending on the structure of my day (and whether I have much to say). I like to keep my journal next to my bed, and each night before I nod off I like to set aside 10 or so minutes to write my thoughts from the day down. It doesn't have to be extravagant, a quick 10 minutes before bed is all you need, and it might even save you from mindlessly scrolling right before sleep time.
3. How to structure your journaling and useful journal prompts
Right then, let's get into the nitty gritty of why we're all here. As I've said before and I will say again, journaling is a completely individualised process and you are free to do so however you like. If you hate all of my journal prompts you are more than welcome to completely ignore me and do your own thing, HOWEVER if you're in need of a little inspiration to get down and dirty with your feelings then have a read of some of the techniques I use.
- Step 1 is the most important part; Put your phone on do not disturb, pick a comfy & quiet place to sit and play some music of choice (I always go for some calming instrumentals, or you can search up journaling playlists on Spotify etc.).
- I always start with 3 things that I am grateful for that day. This helps to set the tone for your journaling session, and really does put you in a positive mindset to realise there are so many beautiful things, people and moments in life.
- The next part is open to interpretation and depends on what you feel like writing about. The simplest method is to do a 'brain dump'. Simply write whatever comes to your mind and get it all off of your chest. This is a great way to alleviate some of the pressure if you are feeling mentally overwhelmed or busy and you just need to get some thoughts out.
- If you're not into just word vomiting onto the page, try some of these journal prompts to get you thinking...
- What are 3 things I achieved today?
- What healthy habits do I want to develop this year?
- What is something I've been putting off but would love to achieve?
- Choose one word to describe how you would like your week to look
- Write a list of goals you want to achieve throughout the month, revisit at the halfway and end points to check-in with yourself.
- Write down 10 things that make you smile
- 3 short-term goals (0-6 months), 3 medium-term goals (6 months - 2 years), 3 long-term goals (2+ years).
- Who is someone I am grateful for having in my life and how can I connect with them today?
- What is one action/habit that I do daily that I can go without? E.g. Snoozing my alarm every morning.
- Do my actions reflect who I want to be perceived as by others?
- What can I do today that will make me truly happy in the moment?
- What do you look forward to most in the future?
There are so so so many more journal prompts available online for you to read through and use, but the above list are just a few that I often use to get me back on track or help me to focus on what I want to be achieving. Here are a few sites I like to use:
In particular, Calm Blog has a great iPhone and Android app that contains lots of meditations for however you're feeling; Anxious, overwhelmed, you want to feel energised, start your day off with positive affirmations...the list is endless and I highly recommend the app.
However you're feeling, good or bad, journaling is a great way to get in touch with yourself and your emotions. It allows you to spend time with and really get to know yourself. A lot of people will spend their whole lives just going through the motions and constantly occupying themselves with work, friends, family, anything that will keep them busy, to the point where they never truly get to know themselves on a deeper level. Being in tune with yourself and your emotions is basically a super power, and if you can learn to appreciate the quiet moments you have to yourself, you will see that you can become so much stronger and more independent in many different areas of your life.
As I said, journaling is a very personal experience, try not to put too much pressure on it. Just take some time out of your day to sit down and connect with yourself, you might even learn something new.
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