5 Ways Keeping A Journal Can Help You Reduce Stress
It is a crazy world out there, the world of missed deadlines, unattended events, unmet deadlines, and canceled coffee dates. With so little sleep that your everyday life goes a bit off base and somewhat delusional. We are in a constant search of ways to help us detox of stress, and – we may have finally found the solution: keeping a journal!
There are one too many benefits of keeping a diary – from reducing stress, staying motivated and sparkling creativity to promoting a healthy mental balance and self-knowledge. Whether you are more of a traditional type and like your words on paper or you prefer a digital form, here are five reasons to start keeping your journal.
1. It Promotes a Healthy and Positive Mindset
Being overwhelmed as we are, we usually focus on the negative and forget the importance of gratitude. Rather than focusing on what you don’t have, take a moment to count your blessings and say “Thank you” to the Universe for everything you’ve been blessed with – from being healthy to having a home. These positive affirmations will help lift your spirits and get you in a much more relaxed and poised mindset, helping reduce stress and anxiety.
2. You Unplug and Recharge
Although social media is fine for a virtual coffee with friends and some beautiful visual stimulus (we all love Tumblr and Instagram, don’t we?), there are times when logging out of your social media accounts is the best thing you can do for your mental health. A busy mind is best silenced when you unplug your gadgets for an hour (or more) and focus on what your body and mind are telling you. The moment you learn to read your mind’s impulses, write them down. Even if your thoughts seem all jumbled up, with no rhyme or reason to them – that’s fine. Let it all out: there’s no better mental detox than that.
3. It Helps You Stay Motivated & Organized
Much of our everyday stress stems from the inability to balance out the number of our daily chores with the hours there are in a day. It is when we lose motivation and fail to complete half of the things dangling over our heads. Say “Goodbye” to stress by using your diary to organize your thoughts, and your daily and weekly tasks. By adopting this practical, problem-solving mindset, you’ll reduce stress and increase the number of completed tasks in a day.
4. It’s a Trustworthy Confidant
Keeping a diary is the best form of an emotional and mental release, and the most “immediate” one. By carrying your journal with you, you ALWAYS have a place to detox. A diary is your confidant, and a place where you can let it all out, without worrying your feelings/thoughts will ever be used against you. Even writing things down and then tearing them apart and physically throwing them in the garbage can be a beautiful, symbolic way to let go, heal and de-stress.
5. It’s Empowering
Writing the positive and negative aspects of your life in a journal helps you get a better perspective of how things are, why and how they should change, and build a healthy set of patterns that help you get in a more positive mood. Keeping a journal is a reminder that YOU are your best friend and your worst enemy. In realizing things are in your hands, it’s up to you in changing things for the better.
Start changing your life today by turning to mindfulness as your best ally. The moment you become affirmative and intentional about what you write, things will start to adapt to your advantage.
