Reflect and Nourish

“Journals for writing” by avrdreamer is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

I started my first official journal when I was 17 after one of my friends recommended I give it a try. 

Up until then, I had only journaled every once in a while. I wasn’t sure how to go about it and didn’t believe it was something that would “actually work” to improve my mental health.

But ever since I committed to it, I’ve been journaling regularly every week, and I have experienced a few great benefits that I want to share with you in this post: 

1. I developed more gratitude for my life. 

In my beginning journaling days, all I did was write about my problems. I thought this was a healthy way to vent my frustrations, and it is … when done in moderation. 

But by dwelling on my problems and only focusing on the negative, I began to feel even more frustrated than I did in the first place.

So one day, I decided to take a different approach. I now start my journaling practice by writing down five things I’m grateful for. This has helped me improve my mood and cultivate a healthier perspective on life. 

After having incorporated gratitude into my journaling routine, I can confidently say that gratitude is one of the most important qualities you can develop if you want to live a happier life. Being able to shift your perspective to notice the positive and count all of your blessings will help you get through everyday challenges. 

2. I gained more confidence in myself. 

In addition to gratitude, another ritual I added to my journaling routine is writing down positive affirmations. This helps me start my day positively and provides me the reassurance I need to feel good in my skin. 

Some of my favorite affirmations to write down are “I am worthy,” “I am loved,” and “I am going to have a beautiful day today.” 

When writing down affirmations, choose ones that resonate with you and will give you the confidence to kickstart your day. 

3. I learned my emotional triggers. 

Looking back on my previous entries, it’s hard not to laugh. Without being fully aware of it, I wrote about the same problems over and over again. 

The more I journaled, the more patterns I noticed in my thinking. This helped me learn more about why I think and feel the way I do. 

If you have a journal or are thinking about starting one, I would suggest asking yourself why you think and feel the way you do in different circumstances. This will help you gain greater self-awareness and maybe even pave the way toward finding solutions to your problems. 

4. I helped myself through hard times. 

Perhaps the most therapeutic journaling sessions I’ve had are where I just drop what I’m doing immediately and write out all my worries. 

Although I previously said that ruminating on your problems is problematic, it’s still a good idea to work through your negative feelings in a journal. Writing something down forces you to pause for a bit and think about the words you want to use to describe how you’re feeling. Going through this introspective process and putting your feelings down on paper can be a very insightful experience.

I hope this blog post gave you a glimpse of the results you may get if you commit to journaling every day. While it may be challenging to get into the habit of journaling at first, the results you can gain from doing it consistently are well worth the effort.

So, stick with it — you’d be surprised how much you can learn about yourself just by putting a pen to paper.