Journaling for Stress Relief
“Chapter 1: The 79 Cent Therapist” – Kathleen Adams
Introduction to Journaling & Stress
Journaling may first sound like something girlish or geeky… something that only Anne Frank did back in the days. But it is not like that. In my opinion, using journaling for stress relief is a very good idea. I write regularly into one (or a few) myself and do not hesitate to recommend this habit to others too. I guess the benefit of journaling depends on your personality. If you haven’t tried it before, you can decide if it could suit you after having read this short article.
Three different journals I use or have used. From the left to right we have: a three year journal, a training diary (for sports), a topic based journal.
The stress relief benefit of journaling is that you get things off your mind. I would not use a computer for journaling, as for this kinds of things I just trust paper more. It also feels more real. I also often tend to journal just before going to sleep and do NOT want to have the portable with me in bed.
Different kinds of Journals
1. A daily journal. To a daily journal, which by the way isn’t always used daily, you should just write casually things that are on your mind. You are writing to yourself, so don’t be stressed about how you do it. Journaling is a great way to take things off your mind and put them on paper and to this way relax your mind. By writing about things you often get a better grip on them yourself. The only rule you should have is that you always date your entry. After the date your writing should be free and you should really concentrate on allowing it to be free and thus flow freely. If you start building different kind of rules about your journal writing, you will prohibit your free mind talk.
A daily journal can have many forms. I have had many different journals of different shapes and sizes. My favorite size is “medium” (as specified on the picture), which allows enough space for a reasonable amount of text, but is still neat and portable. There exists nice 5 year, 3 year and 1 year journal formats. For some reason I like these ready formats and I am currently writing in a three year book. The only problem is that the entries in such books have to be quite short. Most of the time I write very shortly what happened during the day, but really concentrating on what I learned during the day.
Keeping track of what I have learned in life is for me a driver to continue with my journaling habit. I write a short entry quite regularly on evenings. I do not punish myself if I miss a day, or a few, or even a week. One has to be dynamic in life and be ready to admit that there exists more important things in life than regular journaling.
There are however other types of good blank journal formats too. I might myself consider using next a one year journal with one full page per day. But the point I am trying to say is that you really do not have to stick with the ready format. You can get suitable nice empty journal books for under a dollar. After you write your first date and entry, it is a journal. Your journal.
I also used to have a divided journal with different sections. This way I could keep track of sections llike A) positive things that has happened, B) what I have learned and C) etc etc. But that format was not suitable for me. It could still be a good approach for you.
2. Specific journals. As an example of a specific journal we could mention the training journal. If you go regularly to the gym you might want to keep track on how well you did on the different moves you made. Along time you should see progress. Most likely your progress will be faster if you keep track of it.
If you are doing cross-training, you might want to mark down what you did on a specific date. Every now and then you also could make some short entries of your weight and morning pulse. I would not combine a training journal with a personal journal, as you might want to show your training developments to a friend or a personal trainer. I you have personal worries jotted down on the on the same page it will make it harder.
Other specific journals could have something to do with another hobby you have; you will know if you have this kind of a need. If you do, just go for it.
Writing for Stress Relief
What should you write in a journal. Here are a few ideas:
- Write about what happened during the day
- “The worry throw up”: Write for 20 minutes about your current worries and just let your mind flow. Write about your worries, and analyze them on the pages and don’t restrict your writing. Instead try to write fast and don’t stop to correct your writing. Follow the threads in your writing, even if you get off track. This is a very good, calming, anti-stress exercise.
- Write about three positive things that happened to you during the day. Do this for one month in row.
- In stead of flaming someone with an angry email, write an unsent letter in your journal. Most likely you will look less stupid in real life. Many times writing an unsent letter will still calm yourself down.
- If you have problems starting, use springboards. They are sentences that suddenly stop in the middle, and where you should continue with your own thoughts. Examples of springboards are:
- What’s the most important thing to do now?
- What have I been thinking about today?
- How am I feeling right now?
- Today was a …… day, because…
- My biggest [secret, wish, love] is …
- My ideal work would include…
- I’m happiest when…
- Keep a list of springboards like this in your journal.
- What did I learn today? Describe shortly how you discovered this. If you write some ah’aa that happened last week it doesn’t matter. You’ll be surprised how you will be able to mention something every day.
I hope those ideas get you started.
Privacy
I don’t recommend ever giving your journal to someone else for reading. For me, my journal is strictly private. Furthermore, I recommend that you write on the first page of your journal something like this:
This is XXX’s privat journal. You will most likely not find anything that interests you here. If I have lost it and you find it I really appreciate if you could return it to me. My contact information is …
I once forgot my journal in an airplane. I actually did get it back, which was nice.
Summary
Journaling is a great way to learn to know yourself better. It will definitely also help you to manage your stress.
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