January 28, 2022
We all know how mood can change wildly on any given day. A crummy night’s sleep, a sick child, or even a change in the weather can have a significant impact on our mental health. Some of these daily stressors can feel overwhelming at times, particularly if you have a history of depression or anxiety.
Keeping a mental health journal can provide you with an important outlet to express your feelings in a way that’s healthy and help you gain a better understanding of yourself. If you’ve been considering writing down how you feel, here are some of the benefits you can expect to see.
When daily stressors begin to build up, even the smallest inconveniences can feel like the end of the world. Putting pen to paper can be an effective way to “transfer” these negative emotions out of your mind and into a journal. It’s normal to have negative thoughts, and getting them out can help you process them in a way that’s healthy and thoughtful.
As you write in your journal each day, you may begin to notice a pattern of triggers that tend to have an affect your mental health. As these triggers begin to reveal themselves in writing, you can modify your behavior to avoid the situations or stressors that impact your mental health.
If your mental health is suffering, it’s important to have a record of your symptoms. A mental health journal provides a catalogue of what you’re feeling and when, so the ordinarily hard question — “Am I feeling depressed more often lately?”— can become much easier to answer and act upon.
Making any large decision can cause stress and put a strain on your mental health. Writing down the pros and cons is a useful exercise that can help provide clarity on consequential decisions. You’ll also be able to reference the list later if you begin second-guessing yourself.
Journaling isn’t hard, but it does require discipline. You’ll need to carve out time each day to write; 20 minutes should be enough. When you write, write for yourself; you shouldn’t worry about proper grammar or writing in a particular format, just do whatever comes naturally to you and feels helpful. The ultimate audience for your writing is you.
If you’re seeing a professional to support your mental health needs, your journal may be helpful to track changes or improvements, but you shouldn’t feel compelled to share its contents with anyone. You may find that just spending those 20 minutes with yourself each day can take the stress and chaos of everyday life and transform it into something that feels more manageable.
