Journaling

Journaling is my therapy. I mean, I think everyone could benefit from therapy with a mental health care professional. But not everyone has the time or money or the guts to do therapy. And that is okay. As I have mentioned in mindest morning - sometimes all you need is to gain perspective. And that is where journaling is my absolute favorite tool. As much as you can vent to a friend, family or a partner about what is on your mind, journaling is your silent listener. No comments. Also technically no direct comfort from a real life person but hey - you can't win them all!

If you do not really know what journaling means or how it looks like, it is as simple as this: grab a pen, grab a paper or preferably a little blank booklet that you can scribble into. And start writing what is on your mind. To give you some insight into what I am typically writing down, is my expectation of what today should look like. The things I would like to achieve. The things that stress me out because I feel like I am behind. My grocery shopping list and what I should get from the store - and no, of course it makes no sense to write bananas and rice down in between my thoughts because I will not bring my journal to the store.

So as you can see, my journaling pages are chaotic! Sometimes I am writing pages after pages about what is on my mind. What bothers me in my relationship with maybe a good friend who is not reaching out or replying as much as they used to. Or the fight I had with my partner and why it still upsets me.

By writing down my mind and my heart onto paper, I literally make space in my brain. I clear out a big part of the worries and fears and "tidy up" my thoughts. I may not always provide me all of the solutions. But it does bring me comfort. Why? Because most of the time my worries and fears are not as big when they are all written down. Because your mind is so strong that it sometimes creates these massive overwhelming feelings and all it takes is to write everything down. Breathe, reflect and accept that not everything can be fixed in this very moment. However the overwhelming feeling will soften. That is the power of journaling.