Happier Way Original –
It can seem a bit strange at first to pick up a blank notebook with the expectation that you are going to write down some meaningful thoughts, find some deeper insights within mundane documentation and emerge a more enriched person at the end of your first journal entry. Perhaps it is not even possible to achieve these outcomes at the very first go which is why we will be exploring the benefits of regular journaling, with regularity and recurrence being key here!
Once the initial strangeness has been confronted, journaling can mean anything to you. It is a blank book for you to fill up with your own thoughts, your own questions and answers, reflections and regrets, improvements and progress, and more! There is no prerequisite to start journaling and there has to be no defined aim as such, the activity is meant to be relaxing and a safe space for you to explore yourself without judgment. Think of journaling as a novel you write about yourself, for yourself.
Why start? Well, here are three benefits you can reap:
- Enhance Your Self-Awareness:
Yes, you probably know yourself best. But we are constantly evolving and changing as we keep with the times, no one is static and unresponsive to the changes around them. As the seasons change, as we grow older, a lot of who we are begins to make sense through reflection. What better way to engage in reflection than engaging with a literal record of how you have transformed through time! That’s right, a journal can quite literally help you record yourself and how you see yourself, flipping through its pages and revisiting earlier versions of yourself can enhance how aware you are of who you are. This self-awareness is useful not only in that it helps you understand your strengths and limitations but it also helps you set realistic goals about who you aspire to be.
- Improve Your Mood:
Journaling can help you identify what your stressors and triggers are. By keeping a regular record of what is going on in your life and how you may be reacting to seemingly normal situations can make sense when you view them together by making patterns of behavior visible to you. A regular record of your feelings can help you understand how to maximize positive mood changes and identify and work on eliminating negative ones. A mini-breakdown at work today, for example, can be explained by all your journal entries about past breakdowns and enable you to understand what are the common elements between each and how can these recurring stressors be eliminated.
- Increase Your Creativity:
A lot of us have not had the opportunity to explore our creative side owing to our occupations, lifestyles, and busy schedules. Journaling is a great way to connect with that forgotten creative side of ours, everyone has one! Regular journaling can help you explore ideas in greater depth, express originality, and develop ways of depicting everyday events in detailed and articulate ways that can actually be quite insightful. Moreover, since it is such a private activity that it can help you express how you feel without inhibition, giving you creative confidence.
This isn’t even the tip of the iceberg! There are many more benefits to regular journaling and cultivating this useful habit yields more than enough in rewards for personal growth and mental wellbeing. Try it yourself to find out!