Journalling gets mentioned a lot in the wellness space. It’s heralded as a route to mindfulness and self-exploration and there’s a plethora of different journalling books out there.
Just because it’s become mainstream, it doesn’t mean you need to do it. But it may also be helpful to know that journalling doesn’t need to be a perfect ritual of entries. There’s lots more scope and options to try out to decide if it’s something that might work for you.
What journalling actually is
Most people might think journalling means using a dedicated notebook to record your thoughts and feelings. But journalling doesn’t have to mean putting pen to paper. It can be more illustrated such as sketching, scrapbooking or photographic. It can be offline or online. You may like to do it alone or join a journalling group or time-framed challenge.
You may have wondered what the difference is between a journal and a diary. I think of a journal as a place for reflection and possibly brainstorming and a diary as a place to record events and perhaps make a few notes about what happened. Of course, you might combine the two. Lots of diaries have sections for notes which might be where you do your journalling.
Why it can be valuable
We carry so much information in our minds that sometimes we can feel overwhelmed. Journalling can be a valuable space to look at what’s on our mind and to process some of our thoughts. It can be a way of exploring what’s going right or not and where we’re making progress.
If you currently live in your mind, it can be beneficial to move thoughts from inside your head onto a page. Just as when you say them out loud, putting them down creates distance. It allows you to look at things from a different perspective. Thoughts and feelings can become clearer and less tangled or less heavy and intense. This can bring space for fresh ones.
This can be helpful both when we’re navigating difficult experiences and when things are more settled or just busy. That’s why for some people journalling does become a daily practice that helps them create mental clarity. It’s one of the few places where you can be both writer and reader. You can witness your experiences, not just live them. It’s a place to ‘chat’ when there’s no one else to speak to. This shift in your understanding is part of what can make it a therapeutic process.
It can also be a great place to brainstorm ideas. My journals usually contain a mind map or two. Over time, it can be useful to look back at your journals and see how things have progressed or how the themes you focus on have changed.
Journalling is about reflecting and processing what’s going on for you and because of this, the greatest value of a journal is how you make the practice personal to you. For anyone who struggles with their inner critic, perfectionism or feeling unseen, your journal can be the space where there is no audience, judgement or performance.
It doesn’t have to be a daily practice
I think one of the issues with the widespread rise of templated journal books is that they can give the impression that to do journalling right it needs to be a regular, perhaps daily, practice. But it can be a whole load looser than that.
It’s really about what works for you. For example, I find journalling most helpful when I’m in a challenging time or have lots to process. Then it might become daily for a few weeks as I use it to help me work through what’s going on but afterwards I might not open my journal for another month. Other times, I might avoid my journal but then find when I do put pen to paper that it’s the best thing ever.
Some people like a bite sized daily practice like recapping on their day, what went well, what didn’t and what they were grateful for. Others may use it more periodically, perhaps when they have some free time to be creative or to mark the passing of the month.
I believe there are no journalling rules to follow. It’s whatever works for you. And that might differ over time.
Different approaches
As a stationery lover, I like a traditional notebook and pen for my journal. I discovered that when I bought templated ones I didn’t end up using them. Instead, a standard notebook, or one with a lovely cover when I’m being fancy are my go-to. I’ve historically gone through phases of doing morning pages – a stream of consciousness first thing in the morning for usually around three pages. I still do that once or twice a week. It’s accompanied by a spot of journalling when I get the chance to grab a coffee in a café or when I’m travelling and have a little more time.
I have a client who’s an artist and does beautiful, illustrated journalling. Her pages are a combination of writing and accompanying drawings. It might be that you just grab some paper and some colour pens and see what comes up. It could be single words or phrases, a few doodles… just let your pen wander without too much thought.
Or you might choose a few prompts to guide you in your journalling practice depending on your focus at the time. These could involve factors regarding your mood such as when you felt anxious, what helped you relax that day, what you could do differently next time. Or it may be a bit of blue sky thinking about what you’d like to do in the future, where your roadblocks are and what might help you to move or leap over them.
Making it work for you
Whilst I’m an advocate of journalling, it’s not something I’m prescriptive about for myself or my clients. Some clients may already have a journalling practice when we meet. Others I may speak to about journalling and they give it a go whilst we work together. With the majority it might not even be mentioned.
Journalling is not for everyone. It’s easy to think of it as something you ‘should’ be doing but it’s more important to give yourself permission to set it down if it doesn’t feel right for you. For anyone who’s interested, I’d encourage you to pick a few guided prompts to get started – there are loads of ideas available online – and be a bit playful with it. Start small, start scrappy, see what happens. Don’t create rules around it. How you reflect and react is all information worth paying attention to.
Above all, journalling should be pleasurable, something that helps you create some quiet space for you and your inner world.
