A couple weeks ago we talked about practicing mindfulness through guided meditation and breathing exercises. This week, I want to revisit the topic of mindfulness and present another practice I use to help me work through my thoughts and emotions. This past weekend, I went home for the first time since leaving for college. I was super excited for it, but when I got there things felt off. I felt sad that it wasn’t really my home now, I felt like there was a disconnect between me and my family, I felt like I didn’t belong. This was incredibly overwhelming. My parents tried to ask what was wrong, but I couldn’t talk about it without tearing up.
Image from https://7news.com.au/the-morning-show/loneliness-is-the-quiet-epidemic-affecting-our-health-heres-how-we-cure-it–c-1063088
It’s when I feel the most overwhelmed, and most unable to express my emotions, that I turn to journaling. I’ll admit, I’m not the most consistent journalist out there. Whenever things are going well or I get too busy to take the time to journal, I can go months without doing it. This is something I’m trying to work on because it’s been suggested that more consistent journaling can boost mental health and emotional well-being. But hey, you have to start somewhere.
My journal entry from this weekend starts, “Dear Journal, where do I even begin. Since we’ve last met, I moved into college, survived my first midterms and an English speech, turned nineteen, and a whole lot more.” It might sound strange to say, but I like to approach journaling as if I’m talking to a sort of friend or confidante. Journaling should be a safe space, a place where you can write out every thought that’s in your head without judging it and without fear of being judged. Taking this approach helps me to get out the thoughts I can’t vocalize to others and allows me to work through the emotions I’m feeling but struggling to talk about.
Image from How to Get Started on Journaling | SUCCESS
After I get all my thoughts and feelings out on paper, they feel smaller. Journaling helps give me some perspective and space from my thoughts. It helps me work through whatever is bothering me as I can clearly see the problem and then start thinking of solutions or ways to work through whatever is going on. I can’t overstate the power of journaling for dealing with thoughts and emotions. If you want to start journaling but aren’t quite sure how, see the resources list below. Happy journaling!
Resources for Journaling
Until next time,
Avi
I first wanted to start off by saying that I love how you felt comfortable enough to share your personal experiences in your blog. The idea of journalling is something I have heard many people talk about, and I may start my own journal soon. I also really like how you provided resources for your reader as it makes your information more accessible and practicable. In the future, you could possibly use italics for singular words to draw attention to them as the bolding of words is a little jarring for my eyes (but that could just be me). Other than that, I really enjoyed your post!