How Journaling Rids You of Stress
You’ve heard of the phrase, tidy space, tidy mind? Well, let me introduce you to how you can create a tidy mind without moving from your seat!
We have all dealt with the effects of stress. The headaches that clench our eyebrows, the weight that drives into our shoulders and neck, and the anxiety induced sleep filled with thoughts of Monday. As a species, we have found multiple ways over the years to help tackle stress.
Historians believe meditation has been practised since 3000 BCE, and although this particular exercise has an overwhelming number of people actively engaging in it (due to the numerous benefits) — the art itself can be extremely hard to attain as we live in such a digital heavy world. Most individuals would find staying off their phone for more than 5 minutes extremely difficult, let alone with their own thoughts.
This is where the beauty of journaling comes into play.
When our mind feels full of thoughts we have the need to either scream this information out, or worse, bottle them. The problem with this is that eventually the individuals who never allow this information to get out of their head, will experience some version of burn-out — a feeling those working within the corporate world are quite familiar with.
Journaling allows for all the experiences from our day — our thoughts, feelings, ambitions and wishes, to enter a space purely for us and for no one else to judge. Similar to a diary, journaling can indeed be a written piece on your day-to-day life, however, I believe journaling is a much bigger form of diary entry. It’s a much more intentional area with the hope of exiting from the experience, lighter and more fulfilled.
You may be wondering; ‘how do I even start? What if I feel full of thoughts, but when it comes to writing them down, I feel completely empty?’.
Luckily for you, journaling prompts exist!
Now before you get started, it’s important to be in a space that feels both calm and creates thoughts of happiness. Whether this is in the comfort of your own bed, sitting at the table or simply on your commute to work. Find a space that works for you and where you can slot this practice into your life, and hopefully build a habit from it.
Secondly, you must grab any notebook you have to hand, and a pen. As a highly consuming society you may feel the need to buy a new notebook, but please note that this is not needed unless this brings you a sense of joy and excitement to begin the process!
Once you are prepared with all the necessary equipment, you are ready to begin.
Starting with the prompt: list three emotions that you are feeling in the present moment and why you are feeling them?
Even if these emotions are not strong, you must list whatever comes to mind. Allowing these feelings to come out of your body and into the present moment where you can let yourself recognise them and understand why you may be feeling this way.
In an experiment of 120 undergraduate students, researchers found that those who wrote about their feelings had a reduction in intrusive thoughts and avoidance symptoms and even assisted in long-term improvements in their mood after just one week. Meaning that even writing something as simple as this first prompt could benefit you in ways you can only imagine!
Secondly, list some achievements in your life or problems you managed to accomplish today.
Sometimes we do not acknowledge how far we have come in our lives and it simply takes looking back to realise the journey we have taken. Writing these successes helps us recognise the distance and appreciate our perseverance. Whether it is starting a new job or even as small as getting out of bed — you did it and you should be proud of it!
Finally, what are some affirmations you can give yourself?
Affirmations are statements that resonate with you. This could be ‘I am loved’ or ‘I am confident’. They should be statements that do not hinder any negative emotions you may be feeling but be used in an optimistic approach. Making sure to direct these to yourself is an incredibly powerful tool to not only claim the energy for the present but for the future too.
In a 2009 study to research the effects of self-affirmations on a human’s nervous-system, Creswell asked two groups of chronically stressed students to take a time pressured test. However, one group was asked to write for 10 minutes about their value using self-affirming exercises. It was found that the students who wrote for 10 minutes before the test performed marginally better than the group who did not write.
Utilising these three prompts can have profound results on your mental health as well as your overall well being. The studies that support this are remarkable and are proof that something as simple as a pen and paper can have a huge impact on us.
Whether you decide to take up journaling daily, weekly or even monthly, the benefits can not only affect the way we view our lives and ourselves, but also help to improve our stress levels and deter us away from possible burn-outs and strong negative emotions.
Ask yourself how you feel. Is the weight you may have been feeling before suddenly lifted? Do you see your aspirations visibly clearer?
How tidy is your mind now?
