It has been many years since I last kept a journal. Until several months ago, my last journal entry had been written by my eight year old self, and was mostly about how unbearably annoying I found my younger brother. In the (no-I-won’t-tell-you-how-many) years since, I never once picked up a journal.
So why start now? We are still, after all, in the era of the blog, and I blog quite regularly. However, I started journaling because, while I’m quite open on my blog, there are still memories, thoughts and emotions I wanted to capture and process without fear of an audience.
It has only been a few months and I’m amazed that I’m already experiencing positive returns from consistent journaling. Here are five benefits of keeping a journal that have surprised me so far:
1) Improves Your Memory
Do you realize how much you forget? As it turns out, there’s a lot I wouldn’t remember without journaling about it. It’s expected that I wouldn’t remember many of the details my eight year old self committed to paper.
Rereading those sporadic journal entries (filled with many creative spellings) is like unlocking a secret vault of memories. Sure, the main subject seemed to be the things my younger brother did to annoy me, but I also recounted silly stories from the school playground and excitement over books or toys my grandmother had given me. I detailed my dreams for the future (I am sorry to admit I have yet to become a space veterinarian) and, once, my plans for running away. (I think we had broccoli with dinner for the third night that week. Or maybe I was grounded and couldn’t watch “Power Rangers”). All of those moments and memories would be lost to me without those journals.
Even now, looking over just a few months worth of recent entries, I’m surprised at how many little moments would have disappeared from memory without journaling. I can’t wait to reread these entries in ten or twenty years and rediscover countless bizarre dreams, little moments, and inside jokes. Even the most important moments in life can lose detail and fade from memory as the years pass; journaling helps preserve those significant experiences.
2) Facilitates Conflict Resolution
Does this advice sound familiar? “If you’re mad at someone, try writing a letter expressing your feelings—but don’t send it!” My mom encouraged me to try this a few times as a way to channel and purge my anger before I lost my temper and did permanent damage to a relationship.
Journaling offers the same relief. Pouring out my raw emotions and writing through my knee-jerk reactions helps me to calm down and gain perspective on a situation. If I continue to stew and obsess over frustrations or perceived slights, they only grow bigger in my mind. Now I write them down, walk away, and come back to reread my reactions once I have calmed down. With the benefit of a little distance, I can gain a better perspective of where I let my emotions cloud my judgment, or see where I contributed to (or maybe even started!) a conflict.
By venting my emotions in a private journal, I don’t just gain perspective; I often prevent myself from making bad decisions or burning bridges in the heat of anger.
3) Helps Processes Emotions and Feelings
Our emotions and experiences are rarely straightforward and compact. Oftentimes they are messy, tangled, interconnected, and difficult to understand. Like with conflict resolution, journaling can offer a safe space to express emotion and provide perspective from which to examine those emotions.
Personally I have turned to journaling to process a messy end to a long friendship. Others use journaling to cope with grief over the loss of a loved one or to manage stress over a difficult change in situation.
via Flikr – Jonathon Kim
Contrary to popular belief, a journal entry doesn’t have to be limited to a list of everything you did that day. Sometimes it’s easier to process emotions if we turn them into something else, like a poem, or a short story. Creative writing provides a unique lens for viewing and analyzing our emotions and struggles.
Although many people use public blogs in the same way, journaling provides a safe, private place to process your emotions without influence or interference from others.
4) Tracks Personal Growth
As a kid, I had an extremely volatile temper. Sometimes I fear that nothing has changed on that front. It’s hard to see personal growth. It happens slowly, gradually over time. Do you notice when your hair grows a 32nd of an inch? No, probably not. But comparing your current hair length to a picture from ten months ago can highlight a significant change in length.
Journaling is like taking pictures of your personal growth. Comparing my childhood journals to the one I keep today, or comparing last week’s entry to one from six months ago, helps me see how I’ve changed. Sometimes it’s as simple as discovering that I’m more aware of my personal struggles.
Six months ago an annoyance might have triggered a long, angry rant in my journal. “I can’t believe that yada yada” or “It’s ridiculous that yada yada.” Six weeks ago that same annoyance might result in a journal entry that starts, “I reacted poorly to yada yada today” or “I need to write about yada yada before my anger gets the better of me.” Have I completely mastered my temper? No. But I’m starting to recognize triggers and understand my need for healthy coping mechanisms.
In fact, this benefit is why many addiction recovery centers recommend journaling. Journaling can help reveal the stressors that activate addictive behavior. It can also provide encouragement and motivation by tracking personal growth.
5) Causes You to Recognize Your Support System
Does your grandmother send you monthly thinking-of-you cards filled with jokes she’s heard or things that reminded her of you? Does your mom still send you care packages? Does your best friend always seem to suggest a bad movie and junk food night just when you’re feeling blue?
Journaling doesn’t just help us identify patterns in our own habits, it also helps us identify patterns in our relationships. Journaling can help us recognize which relationships are positive and which are negative. Are your entries filled with hurt and stress after going out for drinks with that coworker? Maybe it’s a sign you should scale back on your outside-of-work social interactions. Does your aunt always seem to know when you need a note of encouragement? Maybe it’s time you took her out to lunch and thanked her for her support.
It’s easy to remain ignorant of bad relationships while taking the good ones for granted. Journaling can help you identify which relationships to scale down and which relationships to nurture.
By serving as a safe space for emotional exploration, journaling provides a myriad of mental health benefits. The five benefits above are only the tip of the iceberg. I look forward to discovering new benefits (and preserving more memories) as I continue journaling. I’m sure my newfound perspective will come in handy if I ever do become a space veterinarian.
