8 Reasons to Start Journalling

I’m a big advocate for journalling. I think it can be very powerful. I’ve written in a diary since before I can remember, (maybe five?) though not always consistently. I go through phases. It’s every day for months, not at all, or sporadically. 

I need it. 
I need it regularly, like exercise or tap water. 
Journalling helps me breathe. 

 I prefer to journal in the morning, when I’m fresh, “Morning Pages” as Julia Cameron calls them. (Author of The Artist’s Way). But I rarely make the time, so tend to journal last thing at night now, just before reading. (Sometimes I don’t get to the reading.)  
Often it’s just a quick check-in, a touch-base on how I’m doing. 
Sometimes it’s an intention or a hope. 
Sometimes it’s a brief rant. 
Other times, it’s everything. 
A complete, uncensored, mass offloading of thoughts and feelings. 
Getting it ALL out of my system and onto the page. 

It is, of course, completely private, and will only ever be read by me, so I’m as brutally honest and truthful as need be. 
I can say things I’d never say out loud.
I can be outrageous. 
It’s liberating. 
I am unfiltered, unrestrained and completely free. 
I don’t have to worry about…anything.  

There’s no fear of judgement because it’s not a piece of work, or art.
Or anything I’m ever going to share.  
It’s not FOR anyone, but me. 
It’s just..a few thoughts. 
Private ones. 
In the safety of my journal, I can be my complete unedited self.
I can be angry, sad, lost, hysterical and never have to stop and think about how any of it will come across or whether it holds any value.
It’s empowering. 

It is there that I make sense of myself.
It is there I pick myself up, brush myself off, and recognise that my feeling is just that, a feeling.
Only now, it is on the page.
More on the page, and a little less in my head.
Journalling takes my mess of tangled thoughts, and slowly but firmly untangles them, line by line by line.
It cannot solve life’s challenges, but it can help bring perspective and clarity to a problem. Occasionally, it can bring an answer or two.
Sometimes words of wisdom come out of nowhere. 
Sometimes it’s a little bit magical. 

So here I give you 8 reasons to start journalling:

1.) You can be totally, completely, utterly YOU.
You can be brutally honest and truthful, knowing it’s for your eyes only. This is both liberating and empowering. 

2.) It’s a glorious mass offloading of thoughts and feelings.
A brain dump. A letting go. A release. A grounding process that can help un-clog your busy brain. Seeing your STUFF on the page can help things feel more manageable.

3.) The unclogging means you’re clearing the way for CREATIVITY. 
Can’t concentrate? Try a page or two of stream-of-consciousness writing before getting back to work. 

4.) It can help with problem solving, bringing perspective and clarity to an issue.
Ask yourself a question and you may well reach an answer on the page.

5.) It can lighten your mood.
We’re all just plodding along with thousands and thousands of ridiculous thoughts. It’s fun to write them down. 

6.) It can help with positive self-talk.
If you tend to be quite hard on yourself, it can help bring out the kinder, more gentle voice that says “You’re actually doing incredibly well.”

7.)  You’re capturing a moment in time.
You’ll never be this age, living this chunk of your life again. It’s quite cool to document snippets of it. 80 year old you will chuckle. 

8.) It might just make you a better writer.
Do it for long enough and you’ll start to notice your writing habits and possibly begin tweaking them. Practice practice practice.