VIDEO: The Benefits of Journaling

FULL TEXT: Hey! I’m Lindsey, the owner of MissHeard Media, a media and live events company that connects girls to the world, creating a global community of confident girls through our international blog and live events.

Before I get into the topic today, I wanted to make a few announcements: 1. I will not be doing a live video next week! Once a year, I work on a heavy metal cruise and that is next week, so I’ll be on the high seas with no service.

2. Feb 28^th at the Silver Spring Library is our first event of 2019! This event, which is all about personal power, will help attendees manage their difficult and challenging emotions, focus on their inner strengths, and create a positive mantra. All of this will help make your life calmer, easier, and better! After the event, you’ll feel more confident and prepared to handle whatever comes your way, which will help you at home, in school, and anywhere else you show up. This is FREE, so space is extremely limited.

3. ALSO, we’re hosting THREE week-long, Create.Make.Lead summer camps this year in partnership with the Washington Cathay Future Center in Shady Grove. These camps combine creativity and leadership training with hands-on making.

OK, so today I wanted to talk about one of the ways to manage difficult and challenging emotions: journaling. I wrote a blog this week for my friend at Courtney Harris Coaching about the benefits of journaling, how it can make you calmer, less anxious, and healthier overall.

One of the things I talk about in the personal power workshop is letting go of difficult emotions. Just because we feel angry or pissed off doesn’t mean we have to sit in that icky feeling all day. When I’m really mad, my heart rate increases, I’m sweaty, I’m tense…I’m MUCH more likely to lash out at someone, even if I don’t mean it.

When we focus on that anger and give it power it’s a lot harder to feel something else, like happiness. You’re just focused on being SO MAD. It’s totally valid to feel angry- but the longer we hold onto anger, the more it hurts us.

But what can you do? Well, the benefit of keeping a journal is that you can dump out all of that anger onto the page. No one is ever going to read it but you, so you can be as nasty, as angry, as mean as you want. I know that when I pour out my feelings, on paper or even on a blank Word doc, I feel so much lighter afterwards. My head feels less angry. My heartrate shows back down. I don’t want to shout at everyone anymore. And then, once you write it all out, you let it go. You’ve let it out, so it’s not weighing you down…and you don’t have to do back to it ever again.

To get the most benefit from journaling, make it a habit. You could do that pretty easily by adding it to your routine already. Say you normally scroll on your phone for 20 minutes and then set your alarm before bed. After you scroll, try journaling- even for 3-5 minutes. Write whatever feels important to you. Write honestly, because no one ever has to see what you’re writing, if you don’t let them.

The way journaling works BEST is to find a way that feels right FOR YOU. This is just ONE of the coping and calming strategies I’ll be teaching on 2/28, so if you want to learn some similar techniques (or some totally different ones!) sign up!

My Letters, My Comfort: A Personal Narrative by Tara Kimbrough

The UNLEASH ebook includes guided journal questions!