8 Reasons To Start Writing In A Personal Diary Today
Have you ever wanted to know yourself more? Have you wished you had more mental clarity and emotional balance? Would you like to improve your productivity? If your answer is yes, you will be interested to know that there is a simple and accessible activity that can help you achieve all this and more: It is about “journaling” or expressive writing.
Journaling is a common form of writing, which consists of capturing your thoughts, feelings and experiences in a personal diary. It is a form of free, non-judgmental self-expression, where you can write about whatever you want and however you want. There are no rules or expectations, beyond a commitment to yourself to write regularly.
Journaling or expressive writing has multiple benefits, among which the following stand out:
1. Promotes self-knowledge and personal development
Expressive writing is also called “therapeutic writing,” as it has aspects similar to those that can be achieved through a psychotherapy process. Writing in a journal is not the same as being in psychotherapy, but both practices can complement each other very well.
In fact, if you are already in therapy, you can enhance your progress by forming a habit of expressive writing. Now, if you are not in psychotherapy, writing can give you access to some of the benefits of it, by offering the possibility of abstracting from your own experience and seeing it from another perspective, thus giving it a new meaning.
2. Mental Clarity
Writing is a much more elaborate and precise form of thinking than the thinking that only happens in your head, which is very fast and can therefore be chaotic and disorderly. On the other hand, writing is much slower (especially if you do it with a pencil), which allows you to better articulate the sequence of your ideas, giving it a clearer shape for yourself. Expressive writing helps you organize your thoughts and gain a greater understanding of what is happening in your internal and external reality. In other words, it improves cognitive processing.
It has been observed that maintaining a habit of expressive writing helps reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, which are one of the most recurrent reasons for consultation in psychotherapy. Now, if you do not suffer from anxiety or depression, significant effects of improvement in mood have also been observed associated with this practice.
4. Reduces stress and improves sleep
Stress, worries, and unresolved issues can disrupt sleep, and lack of sleep worsens stress, creating a vicious cycle. When it comes to reducing stress, it is important to change the way we perceive and evaluate stressful situations. Some interpretations can increase stress, while others can make the situation seem more positive and manageable. Expressive writing is a technique that can help change perception and see the situation from a different perspective.
5. Improves the immune system
Hand in hand with the previous point, there are studies that point in the direction of improved immune function as a result of having an expressive writing habit. It is likely that the positive effect of expressive writing on the defensive system is an indirect result of stress reduction and improved sleep, since both chronic stress and chronic sleep deprivation are known to negatively affect immune system function. .
6. Reduces ruminative thoughts
By having the possibility of externalizing your thoughts and emotions through writing, they no longer go around in circles in your mind with the same persistence and intensity as before. This can also reduce difficulties related to maintaining or falling asleep.
7. You confront your difficulties
Expressive writing helps reduce the negative emotion associated with a situation by directing your attention toward it and confronting it. It is known that facing uncomfortable situations makes you stronger, braver and capable of repeating the confrontation, while avoiding them registers them in your memory as dangerous. If you avoid something, you are more likely to avoid it again, but if you confront it, you are more likely to confront it again. Journaling allows you to confront the associated emotion in a more manageable way.
8. Expressive writing helps you reevaluate the situation
It allows for a more balanced perspective: in fact, there is evidence to suggest that people who journal regularly tend to change the pronouns they use to refer to the situation they find themselves in. For example, if you use the pronoun “I” a lot and take full responsibility for the negative things that happen to you, over time you may switch to third-person pronouns, indicating that you no longer take everything on yourself. An example: Juan wrote in his journal about a birthday party where he didn’t talk much to anyone and felt isolated.
After writing for a while, he began to see the situation differently, recognizing that others could also have influenced his lack of participation, for example, by talking too much and not asking him for his opinion or encouraging him to participate in conversations. Likewise, journaling can help you see your own responsibility for the things that happen to you, rather than placing all the blame on others.
How to start a Journaling practice
To start journaling, you only need a notebook and a pencil. Choose a time of day that is comfortable and calm for you, and Spend about 10-15 minutes just writing down what comes to mind. You can write about what worries you, what makes you happy, what surprises you, what inspires you, what bothers you, what intrigues you, etc. Don’t worry about grammar, spelling or coherence, just write non-stop and without censorship.
I suggest writing by hand, rather than digital writing, although it is not a rigid rule. Ultimately you can see what works best for you.
There are also other forms of journaling, which you can apply depending on the need. Here are some suggestions:
5+5+5
This is a form of emotional processing through expressive writing, especially useful when you are feeling a strong emotion associated with some interpersonal difficulty. It’s about writing freely, releasing all the emotion for five minutes, then write the main points of what happens to you, in five sentences. Finally, five words. This exercise can provide a lot of mental clarity.
This form of expressive writing is aimed at paying attention to what you appreciate and are grateful for in your life. Can be anything. In the long run, this can make you more receptive to appreciating what works well in your reality, rather than taking it for granted. Cultivating this attitude can improve your overall mood.
Brainstorming
This way of doing Journaling consists of write down all the possible ideas or solutions for a given problem. It’s especially useful when you’re dealing with a complex issue, where the best approach is to have a wide variety of possible answers on how to approach the problem.
Contemplation
This is a powerful tool for exploring your deepest thoughts and feelings. By asking yourself meaningful questions, you can gain a deeper understanding of yourself and the world around you. The specific practice is to ask yourself a question at the top of the page, for example “how can I improve my relationship with my partner?” , or “what is the most important thing to me in life? Or perhaps “what are my resources and strengths?” Spend at least 15 minutes crafting your answer. You can dedicate several sessions to contemplating the same question. By writing down your thoughts and reflections, you may discover patterns you hadn’t noticed before. Over time, you can better understand your emotional reactions and the situations that cause you stress or anxiety.
In conclusion
Journaling or expressive writing is a simple and accessible activity that can offer multiple benefits for mental and emotional health. To the allow free self-expression without judgment promotes self-knowledge and personal development, improves mental clarity and emotional regulation, reduces stress, improves sleep, strengthens the immune system and decreases ruminative thoughts.
Additionally, by confronting your difficulties and confronting the negative emotions associated with them, it allows you to better handle uncomfortable situations and cope with them more effectively. Therefore, if you want to improve your well-being and productivity, consider starting a personal journal and enjoy the benefits that journaling can offer.
