“In the journal I do not just express myself more openly than I could do to any person; I create myself”
Susan Sontag
Taking time to write anything in your journal after a tiring day, makes you realize how blessed you are. This is just one of the benefits Journaling has, lets see what are the others?
Firstly, Journaling is an art of writing, where it is less systematic, and more about expressing yourself. You don’t have to record everything that you’ve done that day, instead, it could be about what you’re feeling at the moment, your fears, ranting about someone, and more. The difference between Diary writing and journaling is that in a diary you record the daily events while in a journal, you can just write whatever you want.
Benefits of Journaling:
1. It helps you know what your interests are:
Journaling really helps you to explore what your interests are. Writing about the things that make you happy will turn out as an opportunity to navigate your interests and what you want to do in the future. We’ve come across people who say, “I don’t know what to do, my mind is all over the place”. Well if you sit down peacefully and write down what you’re interests are, you might discover the parts of yourself you didn’t know it existed. It might also let you get your priorities straight
2.Journaling helps to reduce stress:
It’s your journal. Your journal won’t judge you, unlike other people. Thus you can overcome your fear of being judged and you can write about anything that makes you feel uncomfortable. You can rant, share your sad stories, write about how people won’t understand you, and many more. So when you express all your negative emotions, it will help you clear your mind and at the same time, keep your mental state healthy by not letting you repress your emotions. It may also help you to keep track of your mental health, it might come in handy if you feel like you need professional help.
3. Journaling helps you teach the art of solitude.
Human beings are social animals. It is indeed hard to be alone but if you master the art of solitude, you will never be broken by anything else. It helps you not to get distracted by any social media and it doesn’t let you waste your precious time mindlessly scrolling through social media. Journal is like a friend who is ready to listen to whatever you blabber, as mentioned earlier, a journal doesn’t judge you as other people do. Journaling also helps to structure the ‘alone time’ by giving you the company of your thoughts and feelings.
4.Journaling helps you to express and increase your creativity:
As said before, Journaling helps you stay grounded in your me-time. Do you know what other benefit you can get while you’re alone? Yes, your creativity will be in its purest form when you’re alone. It’s because you won’t have people around you to confuse your brain and give their inputs and opinions which we won’t agree with sometimes. Journaling also helps you to practice different styles of writing. It gets you into the habit of putting thoughts into words, practicing expression, and exploring motivations.
How to start journaling?
Journaling doesn’t put yourself inside a box, there’s no one way to start writing a journal. Just take a notebook and write whatever you want. It doesn’t matter if it’s a poem or a paragraph about something or just a simple quote you found on the internet or a newspaper clipping about for favorite cricketer. So what are you waiting for? Take your pens and unleash that creative giant of yours.
