People from varied fields of work, who have achieved great success, almost all social media gurus, even therapists whose work involves dealing with human emotions and the human brain have all stressed much on the need to keep a journal. But, is it worth the hype? Does keeping a journal necessarily make a difference in our lives? If, so then, how?
Here’s a list of 4 reasons that are adamant on convincing you to own a journal right away:
1. Provides Clarity- Oftentimes we tend to get strangled in a pool of thoughts, necessary and unnecessary, and in a scenario like this bifurcating the necessary from the unnecessary gets difficult.
However, writing thoughts down allows us to have that clarity. Actually seeing the thoughts written down on the paper rather than just having them in the head helps us understand that most of them are either a by-product of overthinking, meant to stress us or are random thoughts, that are entirely insignificant. We see the thoughts, quite literally and are able to analyze them from a third person’s perspective.
This could be true for anything we decide to jot down, be it work related uncertainty, emotional upheaval, general anxiety or anything else that bothers us.
2. Think Better- Writing involves thinking. Following the previous point, writing allows space for thinking. Every moment numerous thoughts are crossing our mind therefore, thinking or focusing on one important thought naturally gets difficult.
While writing our brain is occupied with that one idea or thought that we give it, which allows it to go deep into it, so that we start to have a clear and better understanding about the matter in question.This process teaches us to look at people, situations and everything from a varied perspective, so we learn to apply it even when not writing but actually facing the situation.
3. Vulnerability- Anne Frank had said, “Paper has more patience than people”, and we can not disagree. So many times it happens when we have things to say but do not know whom to confide in, that’s when your journal can come to the rescue. We can write anything and everything and no one will judge, no one will give you unsolicited advice, no one will even ask you to shut up and you can just be. Does it sound good? It feels even better. Writing down the emotions is equally satisfying as talking about them. The difference is we can be transparent without once being apologetic.
4. Why technology won’t help?- A very common question that people usually have regarding keeping a journal is that in times of iPads and phones what is the need to keep a physical journal? It’s inconvenient.
Well, we agree it is a bit inconvenient however, writing down on paper with a pen or pencil tells your brain that something actually important is being jotted down (our brains are hardwired like that) and it calls for attention. We automatically get more focused and take it seriously (let’s not even discuss the amount of time we spend in front of our screens already!).
The way journaling every day helps is that we are more clear and aware of the thoughts we have on a daily basis, which in turn helps us to be more light-headed and thereby, positive.
Keeping a journal, developing a habit to write for yourself helps us in more ways than one and eventually becomes a personified friend that says nothing but listens to everything we got to say.