Talking To Yourself Isn’t Crazy When It’s Written Down
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“What happens to us is not as important as the meaning we assign to it. Journaling helps sort this out.”
— Michael Hyatt
So what is journaling, really?
Imagine unlocking the secrets of obtaining peace with just a pen and paper.
A journal is an archive of thoughts, feelings, rants, vents, ambitions, and gratitude. It doesn’t require you to follow any hard and fast rules; it can be anything that helps you. In a fast-paced world full of distractions, journaling offers a rare sanctuary. People have been maintaining journals for longer than we can probably know—of the famous, are da Vinci, Einstein, Anais Nin, Kafka, Edison, Darwin, Plath, and so many more. Recently, we’ve been seeing journaling become a popular practice once again. For instance, the pandemic saw a rise in people engaging in journaling habits. Researchers from the University of Texas at Austin created a website called the Pandemic Project that encourages people to engage in a form of journaling known as “expressive writing” using some prompts to explore their experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic. They saw that, though people started writing about their COVID-19 experiences, more and more people began to also branch out to other issues that were bothering them or were on their minds.
At its core, it is a method of personal expression that you can use to document your life, observations, and introspections, with a bonus of embellishing it however you desire.
Types of journals
- a plain notebook you fill in at the beginning or end of the day
- a bullet journal that provides a clean and structured template
- an app on your phone that makes it more accessible
- a photo/collage journal that provides a creative outlet for you that integrates art as well
- an exercise journal that helps you keep track of goals
- a travel/food journal that you take with you as you explore the world and jot down your musings, and so many more.
It can be private–a locked journal that doesn’t see the light of day unless you open it—or a public blog open to the world.
Benefits of Journaling
Journaling offers a plenitude of benefits, especially to those who make it a part of their regular routine. Not only does it aid us mentally and emotionally, but there have been studies that discovered the physical impacts of journaling. Expressive writing in particular has a notable impact on physical health. It is seen to have played a part in lowered blood pressure, boosting the immune system, improved liver functioning, and an improved athletic performance.
Builds Self-Awareness
Your journal is a safe space for you to voice your feelings without fear of judgement or reproach, thus allowing you to pour your thoughts out instead of keeping uncomfortable feelings in, which leads to other unhealthy behavioural patterns.
It provides an outlet for you to express yourself in a healthy manner, which can leave you with the mental clarity to look at your situation with a fresh persepective. Further, a journaling habit could provide a deeper insight into yourself and make you reflect on things that you might not have even known about. In this way, journaling is a great tool for learning about yourself and building self-awareness.
Aids in Healing Mental Illnesses
Journaling helps with stress relief, anxiety management, and depression and trauma recovery. When you journal, you are able to control and improve your mood because it enables you to help prioritize your concerns and fears. Reflection isn’t only important for negative traits, but is also important in recognising your strengths and achievements. Doing this helps build confidence when you might feel that things are difficult. It also helps reaffirm your values and beliefs, and question them to understand why they are important to you.
“I can shake off everything as I write; my sorrows disappear, my courage is reborn.”
– Anne Frank
Builds Clarity and Shifts Perspective
A regular journaling habit helps curb self-doubt, which hinders decision-making. Instead of overthinking and ruminating on problems, writing allows you to organise your thoughts and make a convoluted or conflicting situation better by bringing you more clarity. You also learn to reframe your experiences and find opportunities for growth. This self-awareness and the ability to shift perspectives help build resilience by enforcing control and agency while working through challenges.
Helps in Goal Setting
Apart from expressing your feelings, journaling also helps in setting goals and tracking your improvement by providing some accountability. Identifying your goals and then fleshing out the steps required to accomplish them becomes easy through journaling. Writing down these steps, your thoughts, and plans makes it more concrete and clear in your mind.
How do I journal?
“Don’t bend, don’t water it down, don’t try to make it logical, don’t edit your own soul according to the fashion.”
— Franz Kafka
Journaling doesn’t strictly have to be a certain way. Be playful with it. Allow yourself to experiment. Write, draw, collage—whatever works best for you. Journaling is an excellent approach to enhance creative thinking. A good approach to improve your creativity through journaling is by incorporating different journaling styles, techniques, prompts, and tools. .
Although there are several versions of it, a simple way to start would be to write down a few good things that occur every day. They could be small things that you would normally fail to notice, like, “I saw flowers in bloom on my way to work,” to big, life-changing things, like, “I bought my dream house.” Given our hectic lives, it is very easy to overlook little things that may bring us joy and fill us with gratitude, and focus on the negatives. As you get into the habit of journaling, you will figure out which way your content leans: whether it is something you’re looking forward to or a reflection of the day you’ve had, you’ll find that deciding when to journal becomes a natural action.
Be Kind to Yourself
Since journaling is such a private activity, there is no need to worry about spelling and grammar, or to pressure yourself to have a revelation in every journal entry–the goal is to express yourself. In the same vein, approach your thoughts with curiosity rather than jugement. Don’t hesitate to praise yourself. It’s easy to focus on things you’re figuring out, but make sure to praise your progress and celebrate your successes. Be kind to yourself and be patient with the process.
Be Curious about Yourself
But at the same time, question yourself. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself probing questions, be honest with yourself, and embrace what you might discover. This reflection might reveal things that might have been buried deep, unknown even to you. Note if things have remain unchanged, if circumstances are looking different presently, or if you notice a change in yourself.
When Do I Journal?
How often you journal depends on your personal needs. It can change and fluctuate in frequency, but the important thing is that you make a conscious decision to try and keep trying. Dedicate a time for journaling. Whether it is morning or before you go to bed, find a quiet moment for yourself and ensure you keep distractions away to allow your thoughts to flow.
Journaling requires minimal effort and offers great potential in return.
If you’re unsure which journal to start with, pop by our store and try out our One Day At A Time journal, which is designed to be used in various ways. Use it in any way you desire to find your calm.
Resources:
- The Pandemic Project: https://exw.utpsyc.org/index.php#background-image
- What you can learn from some famous people’s journals: https://www.journalinghabit.com/
- Karr, Mary (2015). The Art of Memoir. Harper.
- Marinella, Sandra (2017). The Story you Need to Tell: Writing to heal from trauma, illness, or loss. New World Library.
- Pennebaker, J. W. and Smyth, J. M. (2016). Opening Up by Writing it Down. NY: Guilford Press.
References:
- Stapleton, C. M., Zhang, H., & Berman, J. S. (2021). The Event-Specific Benefits of Writing About a Difficult Life Experience. Europe's journal of psychology, 17(1), 53–69. https://doi.org/10.5964/ejop.2089
- Schaufel, M., Moss, D., Donovan, R., Li, Y., & Thoele, D. G. (2021). Better Together: Long-term Behaviors and Perspectives after a Practitioner-Family Writing Intervention in Clinical Practice. The Permanente journal, 25, 20.250. https://doi.org/10.7812/TPP/20.250
- Sohal M., Singh P., Dhillon B. S., Gill H. S. (2022). Efficacy of journaling in the management of mental illness: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Family Medicine and Community Health. 10:e001154. https://doi.org/10.1136/fmch-2021-001154
- Gortner, E., Rude, S. S., & Pennebaker, J. W. (2006). Benefits of expressive writing in lowering rumination and depressive symptoms. Behavior Therapy, 37(3), 292–303. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.beth.2006.01.004
- Jansen, R. S., Lakens, D., & IJsselsteijn, W. A. (2017). An integrative review of the cognitive costs and benefits of note-taking. Educational Research Review, 22, 223–233. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.edurev.2017.10.001
- Sharma, R. (2025, May 20). The benefits of journaling for mental health. https://www.medanta.org/patient-education-blog/the-benefits-of-journaling-for-mental-health Accessed on 2 Sept, 2025
- Baikie, K. A., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing. Advances in Psychiatric Treatment, 11(5), 338–346. doi:10.1192/apt.11.5.338