Creative Writing – Journaling
Journaling is the process of documenting your thoughts and feelings about your life experiences and the challenges you overcome. It can benefit your mental health and wellbeing through releasing negative emotions, strengthening your self-awareness through reflection, and goal setting.
Journaling can often teach us a lot about who we are, how, and why we behave the way we do. It can be fun, creative, and it has been proven to help relieve stress!
There are many ways to journal! You can download apps to your phone, journal on your laptop, or use a physical journal. Journaling doesn't have to be restricted to writing. You can write, draw, collage, and even paint - the process should be personal and unique to you!
Here are a few of the main ways that journaling can improve your mental health:
The process of journaling can support relaxation as you write about the stressors of your day. As you write about your thoughts and feelings, you release negative emotions from your mind. This strengthens self-awareness and self-love through acknowledging your feelings and being kind to yourself. You can also consider a different approach and begin a gratitude journal by writing about the things you are thankful for all the things that went right today.
Taking time to write a journal each day can help you unwind and process the events and challenges you may have faced. This encourages relaxation, in turn boosting your immune system and physical wellness. It's so important to make time for yourself, especially during busy study or personal periods, so why not try journaling and see if it works for you?
Taking the time to journal your thoughts and feelings can help to elevate your mood. Journaling is your personal way of expressing yourself and reflecting on the day. It gives you time to appreciate the beautiful things in life that often go unnoticed.
What made you feel happy today? What made you feel proud? What acts of kindness did you witness? What are you grateful for? In fact, a 2015 study by Deepak Chopra, found that gratitude journaling helped to alleviate the risk of heart disease and supported better sleep, and we all know just how important sleep is in regulating our mood!
Sometimes, we find that we struggle with our mental wellbeing as we fail to acknowledge our emotions. Taking the time to write a journal can help you remain in tune with how you are feeling and this can build your resilience through acceptance of everyday stressors and your responses to them. Ultimately, journaling develops self-awareness, in turn helping you adapt to change as you reflect on the challenges you face and find logical ways to resolve them. So, why not think about a challenge you faced today and how you reacted to it? How did this make you feel? Why? What could you do differently next time to better your response?
Much like journaling to stay in tune with our emotions, journaling can also help resolve problems through the process of reflection. Sometimes, you may feel anxious or stressed due to unresolved problems. However, if you journal your thoughts and feelings, this can help you work through the problems and find creative ways to resolve them. It's all part of giving yourself time to process your thoughts and to relax, which often leads to clarity of mind and intuitive resolutions to problems!
Journaling is an excellent way of formalising your aims and aspirations, both short and long-term! As journaling is a process of self-reflection, it can also be a way for you to look forward to the future and the things you'd like to achieve. Journaling these goals can also help you to develop creative ways to achieve them, in term increasing your productivity and focus. Whether you achieve your goals or not, journaling can be a great way to boost your mood by acknowledging feelings of success or lessons you have learned along the way, and both aspects are important to our growth and wellbeing.