Discovering Personal Growth: The Life-Altering Effects of Journaling

I remember always having the desire to keep a daily journal, but I was never truly consistent. I would write a few journal entries, stop, then try again months or years later. I guess I did not understand its purpose and the possible impact that it could have on my life. That was until my therapist recommended that I should try to journal more because it seemed that I was a very insightful person. So, throughout therapy I challenged myself to maintain consistency with journaling.

The Journaling Challenge

In the beginning, the focus was to simply journal every day, to be consistent. It felt amazing. During every journal entry I’d notice the pages slowing filling up with my dedication to my personal goal. Journaling quickly became my trusted place to declutter my mind outside of therapy. It was a tool that I used to help me process situations that I was dealing with, thoughts that entered my mind, and ways that I could possibly assist myself in moving forward. I began to find true purpose in journaling. Therapy was a place that provided space and assistance with my struggles and gave me tools to use in the outside world to live a more manageable and enjoyable life. Over time, journaling became that for me, therapy.

Recognizing Patterns Within Myself

Journal entry after journal entry I began to notice patterns within myself. For example, I noticed that I would question certain decisions in my life on days where my mind was all over the place. On days that were more favorable and less cloudy, I would rethink about things that I questioned, and I believed that I made the right decisions initially. Therefore, uncertainty would surface when I was struggling mentally. This was important to discover because I now had the awareness and during challenging times I remembered, I am only questioning myself because I am struggling now. With such acknowledgement, I would allow the thoughts to pass, recenter myself, and continue with my day. It helped me to not ponder on thoughts that would drag me deeper into an emotional rollercoaster. Also, with this mindfulness, it would often help transform “difficult days” into difficult hours or minutes. The patterns that journaling has helped me recognize within myself gave me the ability to have tools and strategies ready to be better prepared whenever such thoughts resurfaced.

Another pattern that I recognized within myself self was that when I had rest days from training, I felt bored and anxious. If I did not go for a run or do any calisthenics, I felt worthless. But, if I trained everyday with no days off, I felt exhausted and overwhelmed. Also, I was recovering from a left hamstring strain and sciatica on my right side. Therefore, it was imperative that I prioritized rest days. It is very interesting how the mind can play into emotions when we are not mindful. Journaling about the importance of rest days in overall recovery and healing from physically issues was a start. I began to journal about things that I enjoy doing outside of training and things that I would like to try. This helped greatly because now, on non-training days, I had things to do or try out to not have idol time feeling worthless. I got into cycling outdoors, played pickleball at the gym, I found new trails in the city, I participated in events with veterans and many other things. Most importantly, as my therapist told me, “It is okay to veg out once in a while if your body needs a break.” Though I agree, this part is still challenging for me because I enjoy being productive. I am working on relaxing more.

Creating Mental Space

Journaling feels like I am dumping my mind out and I can breathe afterwards. A running mind or recurring thoughts is energy taxing. It can be very draining. There are times that I need to journal just to get thoughts out of my head so that I can continue with my day. Maybe I’ll get back to the thought later, maybe not. I remember one day I was off work, and I had written in my journal probably about 8 times. There was the morning journal entry, something favorable happened, I journaled, mind began racing, I journaled, I successfully used tools to recenter myself, I journaled, I trained and felt good, I journaled and journaled some more, and this continued throughout the day. I recall doing my nightly routine journaling and thinking, wow that was pretty cool and necessary because I felt calm and stable throughout the day. It was fun and different.

There are no barriers, no boundaries, no limits, nothing is linear when it comes to journaling. I have relied on these entries so much that my journal has become my best friend. The most healing part about that statement is that those entries are my words therefore, I have become my own best friend. That thought was very enlightening and powerful to me. Journaling has allowed me to become closer to myself. I am learning me, the things that I love, what triggers me, how to heal, when disturbances arise, how I can improve, and most of all, that I am human. Visually seeing everything that I deal with in my mind and in the physical world entices me more to be gentle and compassionate with myself. Without journaling, things in my head come and go as they please without being able to process them, therefore it leaves a deep confusion and uncertainty within. Journaling allows me to not let anything go untouched. There is fear, anger, joy, happiness, confusion, abandonment, love, compassion, and many other emotions but writing it all down, I understand where I am and why. Journaling has deeply impacted my life and I believe that everyone should try it and become one within. It can be hard, but it is healing. Trust the process.

If you can relate, if you are an advocated for journaling, or if you have questions and would like to share feel free to email me at hello@TheBriannaAmanda.com