The Benefits of Journaling

Contributed by guest writer and blogger Lauren Brierley.

If you’ve been on social media lately you have no doubt seen the rise in journaling in so many forms. Art journaling, daily written journaling, expressive journaling. The list goes on. But the real question is, does it actually benefit us tangibly? Well, I’ve done the reading, so you don’t have to and the short answer? Yes, it does. If that’s not quite enough to convince you to pick up a pen and express your deepest thoughts and feelings, read on to learn how it can help and for some tips as to how to get started.

What is journaling?

If you look for a definition of journaling, it is simply the act of noting down your thoughts and feelings, either as words or as art and can be done on computer, on paper or any way that works for you. It may be a record of how you feel in a certain moment, or as a response to a certain event. It may be how you feel when given a prompt or when you’re considering the future. There are no rules to journaling, no limit to what you can discuss or how you discuss it, but it should include a consideration of specific feelings and emotions to be truly beneficial.

In simple terms, journaling is a way for you to get the thoughts from your head, in front of you. It is not for the consumption of others so can be as private and personal as you like. It helps to organise the chaos of our thoughts, which in turn helps to process and move on from them.

How did journaling begin?

Journaling is not a new ‘fad’, it has been practiced by many people from different cultures around the world for a very long time. We have found evidence of humans keeping a record of their lives, with evidence of people talking about their experiences, thoughts and feelings in journals written in Greek from as far back as the Roman era, though it’s thought that journaling goes back even further and can be traced back to the bronze age. Leonardo Davinci wrote over 5000 pages of journals, where he discussed his ideas, his thinking and even observations of life around him.

With a rich and long history, journaling has shown us how humans have tracked and processed their lives for many years. But how does it actually help us?

Benefits of Journaling

Let’s start with the physical. Yes, you read that right, journaling has been shown to help us physically in different ways. A study done in 2005 by The Royal College of Psychiatrists showed that by taking the time, even just 15 minutes, to write about a stressful or traumatic incident, we could benefit from both immediate and long-term benefits.

Some of the long-term benefits include:

·        Lowered blood pressure

·        The improvement of lung function

·        The improvement of liver function

·        Fewer days spent by those in the study in hospital

·        Less time taken off work

And even improved sporting performance.

Another study done at UCLA on putting emotions into words (which as you know by now is the key to journaling) showed that the part of our brain responsible for triggering our biological response to danger is less effected when we identify emotions specifically. Even by labelling an emotion, such as anger, the brain is less likely to respond and be triggered, than if we avoid the concept of the emotion completely.

Simply by writing your feelings down in words, you slow that emotional response. It is worth noting here that this works both by journaling and physically writing the words that identify the emotion, but also by simply acknowledging the emotion in the moment, “I feel angry” for example. This is sometimes called mindfulness and I will share my thoughts on that at another time!

Going even further than these physical benefits, a study done by Michigan State University found that writing out our feelings reduces the worry and stress we feel about an upcoming task or an event that has already occurred. Furthermore, by reducing worry, through taking the time to write about how we feel, we give our brains more space to process the task at hand. In doing so, we work more efficiently or in other words, it takes less of our brain power and energy to complete our tasks.

Do you often feel like you’re multitasking even though you try and be organised and approach one task at a time? Do you feel like your brain is constantly doing more than it should be? It could be that you’re worrying, alongside all the thoughts and processing you’re doing to get something done, leading to overload and exhaustion. I can say I’ve definitely experienced this, and from my own journey with journaling can attest to feeling lighter once I’ve taken the time to consider my feelings, identify them and own them. 

Even more benefits of journaling

So, we’ve chatted about how journaling can affect the human body, and so far, there are plenty of physical benefits that we have seen come from taking the time to work through our emotions. But what else can journaling do for us?

Psychologically, journaling has been shown that it can give you:

·        Better clarity of what you’re thinking and feeling

I don’t know about you, but I find myself sitting sometimes and I can feel something inside of me. I can feel my body responding but I have no idea what to or what that emotion is. The other day I sat on the bed after failing to get my 4-month-old son to nap for the third time in a row. I absolutely knew he was exhausted, and that the refusal came from being overtired, but in the moment all I was aware of was the tension rippling through my muscles. By taking the time to speak about what I was feeling (anger, by the way) I managed to immediately feel calmer. I then took it further and wrote about my emotions, I wanted to understand who I was angry at and why. Well, it turns out, my anger stemmed from fear. I was afraid of being a terrible mum. Now this is an irrational thought, but in the moment it had me paralysed. By identifying the emotion, by writing it down, I was able to see it for what it was. I managed to breathe and remind myself that babies don’t choose to refuse sleep, that it’s his natural safety mechanisms keeping him alive and then I tried again. He slept for a couple of hours the next time round, and I am sure that without the relief I felt from taking the time to write about my emotions, the frustrations in my body would absolutely have kept him awake.

·        A better understanding of who you are

One of the hardest things about becoming a parent for the first time (and I’m sure the feelings return each time you have another child but as a first-time mother I don’t have that experience yet!) is losing your sense of identity. I have found that all I now talk about is my child, and don’t get me wrong, he’s super cute and I genuinely love chatting to anyone who will listen about how he chuckles like a little old man, but it’s hard to remember the other parts of me.

I spent some time writing about what I love, what I enjoy doing, what gives me joy and I have been able to slowly reintroduce things into my life to bring a little bit of me back. I love painting and sitting with a good book and an even better cup of coffee, and I love to write. Without journaling, I would probably still be stuck thinking about who I was, rather than making steps to knowing who I am.

·        Reduced stress levels (think back to the efficiency study done by MSU, less worry, less stress)

·        It allows you to be better equipped to discuss disagreements with those around us

Sometimes our immediate reactions aren’t the most ideal. I say this is as someone who cannot deal with mistakes done by me or anyone else when I’m tired. I just can’t process them well and end up getting frustrated and angry. When I started journaling, I learned that if I stepped away from the situation, and wrote about what was really going on, I could see the irrationality of my thoughts and emotions and make better choices about my reactions. It allowed me to step into the shoes of others and see their thought process or what might have made making the mistake so easy. In spending time writing, before reacting, I’ve learnt to slow my reaction in the moment.

·        Preserve memories for your future self

My memory is terrible, I put it down to having so much to think about all the time and not having the space in my mind to keep track of what happened before. I found an old journal from a trip to South Africa at the grand age of 22, and not only had I not thought about that trip for a very long time, but I had forgotten the amazing things I got up to and felt while I was there. Journaling is a wonderful way to revisit old memories, but also to look fondly at how you’ve changed. My responses to the experience at the time, would be wildly different to how I would respond now and that’s a simple, interesting fact of life. Things change, and sometimes seeing those changes can really show you how far you’ve come.

Ways to journal

If you’re sat there now, thinking well this sounds like something I want to try but have no idea where to start, have no fear! Below is a short list of some journaling techniques you can try whenever you’re ready.

1.      Write a diary. This one takes me back to being 15 and hiding my diary in my pillowcase (original, I know.) Sit with some form of writing device in front of you, I prefer a notebook and pen but if you’re a computer person, get word processor open and write about what’s going on for you right now. Think about what you’re feeling about things that have happened, today, yesterday, and last week. Have a think about what’s coming up for you in the future and get down how you feel about it. Are you excited, nervous or overwhelmed? Just write and remember no one will read this unless you choose to share so be as honest as you can be.

2.      List your goals and tasks. I love a good list. By writing down your goals and tasks, you’ll be able to prioritise them better. Choosing to prioritise what you need to do first is a real help in overcoming procrastination issues. It also helps me see tasks that I have on my list that I can ask for help with, or even just cross off as unnecessary (I really don’t need to reorganise my underwear drawer right now.)

3.      Create a vision board. I love this one! Sit down with your laptop/Pinterest/Instagram or an old set of magazines, whatever works for you and have a think. What do you want your life to look like? What do you want your job, your relationship, your house to look like? Something you can see as part of your life? Add it to the board.

4.      Write about your gratitude. An easy way to start journaling is to end each day with a bit of gratitude. List three things from your day and your life that you’re grateful for. Have a bit more time? Write why you’re grateful.

5.      Respond to a list of prompts. This one is great for when you’re starting an art journal. Google journal prompts and you’ll find numerous lists to jump start your writing or creating. Here’s a few just to get you started:

For writing – What scares you? Dear future me… Dear past me… What is your best childhood memory?

For creating – What’s your favourite word? What’s your favourite flower? What’s your favourite song?

I’m hoping some of these ideas have inspired you to get you going but remember there are no rules here. If you want to grab a piece of paper and a pencil and just write, that’s exactly what you should do. No one can tell you how journaling is going to work best for you, just have a go and you’ll figure it out as you go along. Have fun!