I’m sure we can all recall a time when the thought of keeping a diary was something that could be made fun of– for both girls and boys. This teasing led many of us to abandon the practice of journaling and never think twice about it! Maybe this isn’t the case for you, as many people have their own experiences with diaries or journaling, but no matter what your experience is, a common truth is that the benefits for journaling are irrefutable and endless! Okay, I can’t prove that they’re actually endless, but here are 83 benefits that you can look at if you want to be really in depth with your knowledge of journaling!
Psychologists today have studied the effects of journaling on all age groups, and have found that journaling is beneficial for everyone! Journaling has the ability to dramatically change mindsets. Writing a few times or week– or better yet, every day– has been proven to lower depression and anxiety scores and aid in the healing process for trauma victims.
Journaling is a fantastic way to relieve you of the everyday stresses you may experience. Journaling has been found to improve positive thinking and grateful attitudes by breaking the cycle of negative thinking. Writing down a certain number of things that you’re grateful for each day is a great exercise for mental health, as it can promote grateful thoughts. When you know you have made a commitment to write down things you are grateful for at some point throughout the day or week, you might begin to actually seek or notice things to be grateful for regularly to complete the task.
pc. Nathan Hare
An additional benefit of journaling is self-awareness, and it’s considered a form of meditation and forms a relationship with your mind. Journaling has been found by many to aid them in becoming aware of their moods, emotions, behaviors, desires, perspectives as well as so many other things. It is so personal, and it’s completely up to the writer to decide what they want to write about, when, and why so it gives people a sense of control and may even boost self-esteem.
Journaling also aids in goal setting because it signals to your brain that whatever goal you’re writing down is important, and it allows you to organize your thoughts and set your daily process for achieving goals into motion. It can strengthen your memory, as well as preserve the ideas you might forget anyway! It allows you to be more intentional and specific for what, when, and how you achieve and can help to clear some confusion from your mind.
Despite all of the studies done to show the benefits of journaling, maybe journaling isn’t your thing and doesn’t have a positive impact on you and that’s okay! Everyone has their own experience. However, if you are curious to see how writing can affect you, tagged here is some aid in getting started! Happy journaling!
