to journal

Journalling is popular, and the benefits are spoken about on podcasts, in health and wellness content, self-help books and by therapists.

Yet, what really is journalling and how do we do it?

When I journal I can find myself thinking, “Shouldn’t I be feeling better now…or at least different?!”, and that is an indicator for me to stop and assess.

If I am not sensing a shift in my emotional or internal state, even slight, then I am off the mark.

There are multiple factors important to journalling - consistency, dedication and reflective capacities. Yet, the most important, is honesty. If there is no honesty, there are no benefits.

And the trick is, being honest is hard. To physically write down what we are desperately trying to protect ourselves from, is scary.

For me, writing is easy, but honesty is not.

“It’s been a hard week, I don’t know why. I just feel so tired..”
Try again.

“It’s been a hard week, I haven’t been on top of my habits and so I’m not feeling great”
Try again.

“It’s been a hard week. My self-critic, perfectionist alter-ego rose their head after I received that negative feedback. It made me feel like I am not good enough! So then I self-sabotaged and binged on social media, disregarded my bedtime rituals and haven’t exercised once.”
Better.

It is imperative to keep excavating. The bottom of the issue might not get uncovered, but applied self-reflection is critical to receiving any benefits from the action of journalling. 

Journalling requires application, focus and humility. It is a powerful tool when we can allow access to ourselves.