While some may associate the idea of journaling with angsty teenage diary entries, the practice of writing down your thoughts has been shown to be an effective tool to support mental and emotional wellbeing, especially when used in conjunction with other healthy habits like exercise and consuming balanced, nutrient-rich meals.
Here are some key facts about the benefits of journaling and how to make it a part of your routine—even if you’re really busy and have no idea where to start.
Journaling has been associated with numerous benefits.
Benefits of journaling
Journaling has been shown to have numerous benefits. For example, it can help you access your inner thoughts and feelings and give voice to them so you can process them rather than suppress them. It can also increase feelings of resilience and help you build awareness of unhealthy thought patterns so you can then break those patterns and build healthier ones.
Expressive writing has even been shown to help reduce depressive symptoms. While it may not necessarily get rid of intrusive thoughts, research has shown that this type of writing can help us dismiss these thoughts more easily as we build tools to do so.
Jennifer Gray, a therapist and coach for overloaded entrepreneurs, says, “Think of journaling as your brain's external hard drive – a place to store thoughts, fears, random ideas, and even those sneaky self-criticisms that wake you at 3 a.m.” Journaling can also be used, she adds, “to track your progress, like a highlight reel – but instead of pictures of you and your dog, it shows you the transition of your growth. This not only helps you see how far you’ve come but also proves that life can oscillate between different feelings and experiences and still be an overall upward trend.”
Writing in a journal also gives you a safe place to explore and express where you don’t have to worry about judgment.“By giving ourselves this dedicated space,” says Gray, “we allow our minds to stretch and find resolutions to issues and closure to feelings.”
Amber Rae, bestselling author and speaker, took her love of journaling to a new level by creating The Feelings Journal, “I created the journal because I needed it,” she explains. “I long struggled with understanding my emotions, so that ‘mess’ became my ‘message.’ Through therapy and my own independent studies, I began developing frameworks, tools, and prompts that helped me name, unpack, and process my emotions. I started sharing those tools on my social media, through workshops and keynote talks, and was taken aback by how deeply they were resonating with and helping people. As an avid journaler, I couldn’t find a journal on the market that helped me connect with my emotions and inner world in a meaningful way, so I created one.”
The first version of the journal was actually in production in 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic hit. “The world was suddenly locked inside their homes having all kinds of feelings, so my team and I launched a 30-day ‘journal with your feelings’ challenge to support people with navigating a moment filled with so much uncertainty and change. Over 40,000 people signed up in 48 hours, and for 30 days, we addressed our feelings and our fears together as a global community. Many wrote to me sharing how in a moment of so much isolation, it was deeply moving to feel a sense of ‘togetherness.’”
While the intention of the challenge hadn’t been to sell copies of the journal, explains Rae, when the journal was released in April of that year, the first edition sold out in 10 days. The second edition—redesigned with a beautiful linen cover, and more elevated look and feel—launched at the end of 2023.
Rae has been touched by the response and the stories people have shared with her. “Therapists are buying them for their patients, teachers have used government funding to purchase them for stressed-out students, creatives use them to navigate the ups and downs of the creative process, moms use them for navigating their own transitions and to help their kids with their big feelings, couples use them to navigate relationship stressors and so on.”
To make journaling a habit, choose an approach that works for you and fits realistically into your ... [+]
How to get started
If you’ve never had a journaling practice before, figuring out where to start may feel a little daunting. If you’re already struggling with feeling overwhelmed and overloaded, for example, where are you supposed to fit it in? How much do you need to write for it to “count?”
To get the most out of journaling, it should feel like a safe place to express yourself, and to be consistent with it, consider where it will fit into your day. Realistically, where do you have even just a few minutes where you can be with your thoughts?
Gray recommends letting go of any lofty expectations and letting yourself keep it simple. “Let yourself journal whatever comes to mind and allow yourself to follow your thoughts and feelings.”
She also recommends making it accessible by keeping a notebook in easy reach “or syncing it with a specific activity or ritual, like morning coffee or after yoga.” If it motivates you, she adds, you can set a mood with candles, music, cozy pillows and blankets or whatever else will help you get into the headspace you need to start writing.
That doesn’t mean you have to get super-precious about it, though. If you find that you’re most able to get into a journaling flow on the subway on your way to work, then do what works for you. And if you only have a few moments in the morning while you eat breakfast or right before you turn off the light before bed, that’s still meaningful. Reflecting on what you wrote can be helpful but resist the urge to judge.
“Start small,” says Rae. “We don't show up at the gym on day one, totally fit. When journaling, if you start to feel things like, ‘This isn't going very well. I don't know if I like this. I don't know if I'm ever going to do this,’ remember that it takes time to build our muscles. Journaling is similar.” She adds that if you have fears that are making it hard for you to put your thoughts on that page, the journal can be a good place to explore and process those fears. “It’s a place to learn and be curious” and not someplace to worry about perfection.
If staring at a blank page feels too overwhelming, you can utilize timers and prompts.
“I would set a timer for five minutes,” she says, “and start with a simple question, like, ‘What is alive in me today?’ or ‘What truth am I needing to hear today?’ or ‘What does my intuition want me to know today?’ Try not to lift your pen. Try to tap into that stream of consciousness space and just write, write, write, write, write without stopping for those five minutes and see how that goes.”
Gray also encourages tuning into your physical body or exploring something you’re struggling with for clues about what to write. A few examples she shares are “What situation is stressing me out when I am trying to sleep?" and “What is the tension in my shoulders trying to tell me?”.
You can also explore a more structured approach like gratitude journaling, a form of journaling in which you write about things you are grateful for. They can be big things or small things. Studies have shown that this type of journaling can be beneficial in reducing depressive symptoms and improving perception of stress and social support.
Traditional "analog" journaling and electronic journaling both have their benefits and drawbacks.
Electronic vs analog journaling resources
While many journaling enthusiasts love the break that it offers from screens, electronic journaling resources have become more popular in recent years, with fitness and wellness apps including them in their offerings and new journaling-specific apps cropping up.
While electronic journaling offers convenience for quickly documenting and organizing thoughts if you want to tag various topics so you can search for them later (and you don’t have to lug a notebook and pens around), says Gray, proceed with caution if you have a tendency to get sucked into devices. “Using your phone to journal can easily have you in a distraction hole, checking your email and scrolling social media instead of focusing on your present well-being.”
One of the things she loves most about “analog” journaling is that “it’s a space for you to get quiet, tune in and to put all of our devices to the side. I think that's part of what makes it so sacred.” However, she says, “if writing in your notes on your phone or using a journaling app is a tool that helps you, then I'd say use that thing that works for you.”
“Remember,” echoes Gray, “the best method for journaling is the one you will actually use consistently. Try each form out and see what you connect with, and give yourself permission to mix it up based on your immediate need and accessibility.
