Everything I’ve learnt after journaling for a year

What a notebook and pencil can do for you.

Introduction

I never believed that a diary could be useful, until an unexpected revelation completely changed my perspective. It was the day I discovered that a neighbor of mine, an elderly lady in her 80s, had been writing in her diary since her youth. She always did so in physical format, amassing an impressive collection of notebooks that told the story of her life.

Curiosity immediately struck me: why would she devote so much time to something like that? I decided to put the question to him directly and what he told me made me set about starting my journal that very afternoon.

She explained to me that she started writing her diary during high school, initially to organize her homework, like a personal planner. However, over time, she began to record the highlights of each day and it was then that she discovered the true value of this practice.

This is the story of how journaling has changed my life.

Benefits of Journaling

1. Mental Clarity and Self-Awareness

Journaling not only provided me with a safe space to explore my thoughts in depth and reflect on my daily experiences, but also allowed me to see my progress in retrospect. Often, when we are immersed in the circle of routine, it is easy to lose sight of our personal growth and we tend to focus only on the immediate present. However, journaling taught me the importance of taking a long-term perspective and avoiding falling into a short-term view of things.

This phenomenon, known as hyperbolic discounting, is a psychological concept that describes our tendency to place more value on immediate rewards rather than waiting for larger but time-deferred rewards. By keeping a journal and reviewing my past entries, I was able to clearly see how my actions and decisions today were shaping my future and let me know my direction. This allowed me to avoid falling into impulsive decision making, I adopted a more reflective attitude towards my habits and where they lead me in the long run, thus making it easier to map out a plan to reach future goals and avoid getting sidetracked.

Picture of Denise Jans on Unsplash

Visualize yourself, observing what path you are taking in your daily life, where it will lead you and evaluating possible alternatives. The diary is like a life map.

2. Reduction of Stress and Anxiety

My journal became an anchor in turbulent times. It provided me with a healthy outlet for my emotions and worries, helping me to release emotional tension and feel calmer and more in control. That is, it allows you to assimilate thoughts and emotions, separating them from the intensity of the present moment. This process of calm reflection allowed me to gain a more objective perspective on my worries and fears, which in turn helped me to manage them more effectively.

Techniques you can apply

At the beginning we explored how the act of journaling can help reduce stress and anxiety by allowing us to gradually process our experiences. Now, taking it a step further, here are some techniques backed by scientific evidence that have been shown to be effective in alleviating this psychological discomfort. These techniques can serve as inspiration for you, and you are free to modify and adapt them according to your individual needs.

1. Expressive Writing Technique

Spending at least 15 minutes writing about traumatic experiences can significantly improve your happiness and well-being (Pennebaker, 1997), (Smyth, 1998), (Smyth and Helm, 2003), (Baikie and Wilhelm, 2005). In this case, instead of spending time on planning and reviewing our objectives, we will spend time on introspection of our feelings. Explain what it is that has made you feel bad, what you can do to avoid it, minimize it or solve it. This conversation with yourself relieves discomfort and can help you when you are discouraged, worried or have constant ruminations about an issue that does not leave you calm. Sometimes we make mountains out of molehills.

2. Gratitude journal technique

The gratitude journal is a technique suggested by psychologist Richard Wiseman in his highly recommended book “59 Seconds”, which complements the research on expressive writing. It consists of dedicating each day of the week to different aspects of gratitude:

• Monday: list three things you are grateful for.

• Tuesday: Relive a memorable experience that made you feel happy.

• Wednesday: Reflect on a positive future.

• Thursday: Appreciate someone’s role in your life.

• Friday: Highlight three things that made you feel good during the week.

This practice has been shown to increase overall well-being and reduce negative emotions in just a few weeks.

💡 Tip: You don’t need to apply all the techniques, try them and little by little you will find what best suits your needs.

How to Start Journaling

1. Set a Time and Place

Choosing a specific time and place to write in your journal can make a big difference in the consistency and quality of your practice. Personally, I chose to dedicate time to writing in my journal in the evenings, after the hustle and bustle of the day, taking advantage of the quiet of the moment to immerse myself.
To make sure I didn’t miss this routine, I decided to anchor the task of journaling to an existing routine activity. Thus, I associated this practice with another task I performed daily, which in my case was returning from a walk with my dog, so that every time I came back from a walk, I automatically remembered that it was time to take a moment to write in my journal.

💡 Tip: This strategy of anchoring habits is very effective and serves to effectively include new habits in our lives. In this case I took advantage of it for the case of the diary, but remember that you can use it for other cases.

2. Set goals and review them later

Set goals, simply write down what you want to achieve, then reflect on the steps necessary to achieve it by mapping out a plan and return to those notes regularly. This habit has provided me with a clear and motivating guide to what I want to achieve.

This approach allows you to visualize your progress and keeps you engaged by not having your thinking so skewed by the hyperbolic discounting we talked about at the beginning. After all, you don’t want to find yourself in future journal entries regretting what you didn’t do because you’ve been wasting your time. This negative reinforcement drives you to take action and keeps you from standing still.

Conclusion

Journaling for a year has been a transformative journey and I intend to maintain this habit. It is not only the practical utility in terms of achieving goals and the psychological benefits, but also, as I learned from my dear neighbor, journaling your whole life is an investment in the future, at 80 years old you can go back and see your life story narrated in first person.

📚 References

1. Baikie, K. A., & Wilhelm, K. (2005). Emotional and physical health benefits of expressive writing. Advances In Psychiatric Treatment, 11(5), 338–346. https://doi.org/10.1192/apt.11.5.338

2. Pennebaker, J. W. (1997). Writing about Emotional Experiences as a Therapeutic Process. Psychological Science, 8(3), 162–166. http://www.jstor.org/stable/40063169

3. Smyth, J. M. (1998) Written emotional expression. Effect sizes, outcome types, and moderating variables. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology, 66, 174–184. DOI: 10.1037//0022–006x.66.1.174

4. Smyth, J. M., & Helm, R. K. (2003). Focused expressive writing as self‐help for stress and trauma. Journal Of Clinical Psychology, 59(2), 227–235. https://doi.org/10.1002/jclp.10144

5. Wiseman, R. (2010). 59 seconds: Think a Little Change a Lot. Pan Macmillan.