5 Tips to Help You Start Your Journaling Practice

Journaling is a powerful tool that can help regulate emotions, reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, clarify patterns or moods, and can provide an outlet for everyday thoughts. Below are our top five tips to help you get started in your journaling practice so that you can test out a tool you may want to add to your unique mental wellness toolkit!

Have your supplies handy!

Having your pen and journal with you makes it easier to jot down a thought or feeling in the moment. This can help if you are working on identifying a pattern in your feelings, or if you just want to document how you are feeling throughout your day - not just at the end of it. Having your supplies handy can also help you work through feelings as they come up, instead of pushing them down or attempting to deal with them later. Immediate access to your supplies can also deepen focus and reduce distractions or interruptions to your thoughts due to searching for your favorite pen.

Don’t filter yourself.

Exploring all emotions and thoughts is important for regulating your mental wellness. Filtering yourself could make it more difficult for insights to surface due to self criticism or a need for revision. If you filter your thoughts and emotions inside of your journal you aren’t using journaling as the powerful tool it was meant to be. Your entry isn’t going to be or sound perfect, and that is completely okay! After all, your journal is for you! No one else will see it - unless you want them to.

Be honest and authentic.

Your journal is YOURS. Be honest with yourself about how you are doing, feeling, or things that you may be struggling with. This is incredibly important if you are using journaling to regulate your emotions, thoughts, or want to utilize it to look back on any progress you’ve made with your mental health. Being honest and authentic can deepen self-awareness, strengthens your personal integrity and improves your ability to identify and process emotions. Being authentic in your entries also provides a safe space to explore difficult feelings and promotes trust in your inner voice.

Pick a time and stay consistent.

Choosing a time that is just for journaling will help you stay consistent in your practice, and creates some time meant just for you. A set time can help make your reflection of the day automatic and reduce decision fatigue. Writing your daily journal entries around the same time can also help you identify patterns in moods, triggers or progress you’re making in your mental wellness practice. In a world that never stops, taking a moment to sit in stillness and reflect on your day, the good, the bad, the funny, and even the ugly - can be helpful and can be a time of relaxation.

Feel free to doodle!

Your journal can house more than just words. Get creative and draw how you're feeling! Visuals are just as compelling as words, sometimes uncovering feelings that words alone can miss. Plus, doodling can take the feeling of your entry needing to be perfect away. Thoughts and feelings can be messy, so it makes sense that sometimes your journal can be too! Doodling in your journal can offer immediate stress relief and a more expressive entry of how you’re feeling in the moment for future reflection.