The Beginner’s Guide to Journaling

Dear Diary...But Make It Self-Help.

Journaling gets a bad rap. One of my favorite self-care activities is journaling, and no I’m not writing “Dear Diary” in Milky Pens with Dashboard Confessional in the background (or maybe I am, you do you.)

Journaling can be harnessed as a great accountability tool (even if time spent is only as little as 5 minutes). Aside from its clearest benefit, catharsis, journaling is an underrated way to help you stay accountable to taking the best care of yourself.

How?

Journaling can help you to organize your thoughts by visualizing them. This improves your brain’s ability to switch gears from emotional thinking to rational/goal oriented thinking. With the right prompts, you have the opportunity to challenge the emotions you put onto the page with healthier thoughts and more rational alternatives. This can help you get “unstuck” from emotional loops and focus more on solutions.

The idea that you wrote something down on paper, out of your head and into the world, can make it seem “more real” and create a sense of accountability to yourself.

Studies show that people are more likely to stick to a goal when accountability is a factor. Journaling can help you better understand your goals, organize the steps it will take to get there, and increase your motivation and likelihood to stick to those steps.

I personally find that I’m the most accountable to myself when I try to journal (even if it’s just a brief update) once in the morning and once at night.

Whether your journaling takes place in a physical journal, in an Iphone Notes Pad, or to the tune of Dashboard Confessional… 10/10, highly recommend.