Why Journaling Has Helped Me Heal

Why Journaling has helped me heal…

I’ve never been a journaling or diary type of person. As a teen, I would start a diary but after a couple of months ( sometimes weeks ) I’d grow bored and stop.

Nothing like buying a brand spanking new dairy only to use it a handful of times and then let it sit there on my bookshelf for months if not years! 

I still do, to some extent, but have gotten a lot better at actually using a diary/journal.

How to start journaling.

I always thought journaling was only for your deepest thoughts and possibly heartbreaks. But never really thought about putting down my dreams, goals, maybe even a To Do list or accomplishments.

Over the years I’d seen elaborately decorated journals and always thought that was a little over the top.

But the gist of journaling was to write down what I am going thru, what I’m feeling, thinking, doing and learn to express myself no matter how random my thoughts are.

Let me tell you they’re all over the place, and use those pages as a guide to where I want to go or how I want to better myself.

Let me tell you journaling is simply put, either a brain dump or reflection of what’s going on in your life at this moment.

The list of what you’ll need to start journaling is short and inexpensive.

1. A composition notebook or small/medium sized book to start writing. If you want something fancier you can go and buy a pretty journal.
2. A pen or pencil depends on what you prefer.
3. Most importantly – A quiet place to write down your thoughts.

What about time?

You won’t really need a lot of time, to begin with, It used to just take me about 5 -7 minutes tops to jot stuff down.

Again, as I mention earlier journaling can either be a brain dump or a reflection of what’s going on with you at this present moment.

I used my beginning journaling as a brain dump. For the record, I finally started journaling about a year and a half ago. While suffering from horrible insomnia, lack of energy and motivation.

I needed to quiet my mind so that hopefully I could get some sleep. Since my thoughts were going a mile a minute maybe I should start writing them down.

The problem with that was they didn’t have any type of rhyme or reason. In other words, there was no cohesion to my thoughts.

But, nonetheless, I just started writing, randomly at first then as time went by my thoughts took on more of what I was feeling and going thru at the time.

Over the course of a year, I’ve finally gotten down a rhythm to my writing and let me tell you…

For the first time in forever (wait! isn’t that some words to a children song)? I’ve felt more at peace and in control of what’s happening to me with my life, marriage, my relationships with my children and my goals.

Journaling for healing.

When I first started journaling I just wanted a way to quiet my mind and hopefully get some sleep.

Little did I realize that not only would journaling help me quiet my mind it would show me much more and in the process help me heal from things I didn’t even realize I was still lugging around.

Like my divorce (mind you, I’ve been divorced for over 15 years), my relationship with my children ( specifically my daughter ).

My relationship with my husband, my relationship with both my mother and my sister, plus my overall views on life as a whole.

Boy! Was I carrying around a lot of excess baggage!

But, in journaling, it all started coming out and after a while I realized that some ( OK, most ) of the baggage I was lugging around was no longer important or in my control.

Better yet I realized that for the most part I should have accepted what was, what is and let it all go. COMPLETELY!

Where do I go from here?

My journaling has come to take up a little more of my time, not that I’m complaining, over this last year. I now journal about 20-30 minutes 3 to 4 times a week.

My thoughts are no longer random or discombobulated.

Through this last year I’ve written down goals I want to accomplish, this blog being one of those goals, things I want to learn, places I want to visit with my husband, things I want to see, and memories I want to make.

Want a Free Happiness Journal to get you started? Here you go. Journal

Slowly I’ve started whittling down on my goals and aspirations. I’ve made a bucket list from all of my journaling and I’ve learned that although I’ve had some goals for years, these aren’t actually goals that I really want to pursue anymore.

For example – For so long I wanted to learn French-German-Italian & Russian. I’ve finally come to realize that I really DON’T want to learn these languages after all.

If and when I decide to visit Italy or France I may learn some basic phrases or words, but not enough to be fluent. And I’m OK with that.

So, What’s next?

I still have a long way to go and I’m sure I’ll be journaling for years to come. It has been both a mental saver and healer and I don’t think this is a habit I’ll ever give up.

I’ll enjoy going back years from now and reading what I’ve written over the years and see how I’ve grown, learned and moved from one season of life to another.

I’d like to hear from you if you journal? Let me know why you journal and how it’s helped you in your everyday life?

Don’t forget to get your Happiness Journal to start your journaling process.