Some time ago, I came across a journal that I had actively written in throughout my primary school days, it was something I had long forgotten about. As I eagerly flipped through the pages, a little window to the past opened and memories of those days flashed across my mind, some unintentionally hilarious, some oddly traumatising, and some so relatable that made me realise I haven't changed much.
Fast forward to today, my life has changed for the busier. Many of my hobbies had been left behind, but I still chose to continue with journaling. Those few minutes each day to pen down my thoughts have proven to be increasingly meaningful, especially in today’s fast-paced world. Here are some of the benefits journaling has brought to me, and a few useful tips to help you get started.
Benefits of journaling
Journaling is a process of self-discovery. For me, journaling was never about writing down the “big” stuff, such as a competition or an award, because these don’t carry any intrinsic value. Instead, it’s about the seemingly “small” stuff – my emotions, my response to a situation, or my thoughts on a particular issue. It’s about taking notice of the interesting things happening beneath the surface. It’s about the subtleties and the details, these “tips of the icebergs”, that will go a long way in uncovering your iceberg. It will help you to understand your true self, your desires, your motivations and your goals in life.
Journaling helps you to improve yourself and your well-being. Life is a constant struggle between the conscious mind and the unconscious mind. Many things in life are unconscious, such as your natural tendency to react impulsively when faced with a particular situation. We rarely pause to think about what went wrong, and what our conscious mind would have done. This is where journaling can make a difference, providing your conscious mind with a place to play its role of self-reflection. It is only when you take the courage to interact with your conscious mind, that you can separate your spontaneous desires from your lifelong passions and goals, that you can work towards the life you truly want.
Writing down my thoughts also helps me to evaluate and forget about them. The human mind is not perfect at "assigning weights" to thoughts, meaning that all thoughts hit with around the same impact, regardless of their correctness or their likelihood to be true. Have you ever had some bothersome thoughts stuck in your mind for days, not knowing how to get rid of them? I find that the most effective way to deal with this problem is to write the thoughts down, so that I can objectively evaluate them, and only then will I find that many of my worries are trivial in the grand scheme of things.
Besides these, journaling also comes with other general benefits. For example, it is effective in helping you form coherent thoughts, which is important for problem solving and social interactions. It helps you keep track of your progress towards a goal, noting and avoiding the pitfalls in the process. It helps you to find inspiration, when your mind drifts everywhere during your journaling time.
How to get started with journaling
Feeling overwhelmed with the seemingly unimaginable benefits? Let’s put aside those thoughts for now. It is incredibly simple to get started with journaling. Simply take out a piece of paper and start writing, or open a document and start typing. Anything on your mind is the perfect content to write down – don’t overthink. It may feel weird or unnatural at first, but thrive on and you’ll begin to get better at it.
To improve in your writing, try the following three-step process. First, start with a quick recap of the past few days – interesting events that happened, people you met, situations when you felt frustrated, or things you’re grateful for. Next, proceed to write down your feelings and thoughts – why you felt worried, why you haven’t been feeling happy, or what you didn’t like about a situation. Last, delve a little deeper into your thoughts and ask yourself deeper questions – what would you have done about a situation, how do you plan to become a happier person, or why your emotions are affecting you so much. As you progress from step 1, to step 2, and to step 3, you may begin to notice the initial benefits of journaling!
It’s important to discover the way of journaling that works best for you. For example, when I first got a computer, I tried using fancy journaling apps. It didn't feel private. It felt too formal. As a highly private person, I didn’t feel safe writing down my most private and personal thoughts when they are so accessible on the computer. Therefore, choosing the right platform to use and convincing myself that the journal is entirely private is crucial for me to be immersed in the process of journaling.
Lastly, understand that journaling should be flexible. Don’t feel pressured to write every day, or to hit a particular word count, or to make some fascinating discovery about yourself when you're just getting started. Instead, treat it like an extension to your consciousness that is more organised and accessible. Treat journaling like a fun activity to connect with yourself.
Conclusion
Just like a computer needing recharge, our minds need that too. Journaling is like a diagnostic process that solves our problems and upgrades ourselves, like an eye that keeps a lookout for the important things in life, like a powerful tool that helps us to learn more about ourselves and what we want out of our lives.
So, take the first step and start journaling today! Some topics you can write about are things you love to do and why you love doing them, the relationships you have in life, or you can write about any details that happened in a day, if you find them interesting. Our world is actually less boring than it seems, you will be amazed at how much joy there is in this world if you look closer.
Co-written by Cen Han
