Why Writing in a Journal is Better Than Therapy

Turning Life Lessons into Laughs

Photo by Carli Jeen on Unsplash

Let’s be real: life is full of ups, downs, and endless “what just happened?” moments. And while therapy is a fantastic, invaluable resource, sometimes we just need a more affordable, accessible, and hilarious way to process our lives. That’s where writing in a journal, or my case, putting together Diary of Cliches, comes in.

When I started journaling, it was more like, “Dear Diary, today was a mess,” than anything poetic. But over time, those scribbled complaints and chaotic musings started to show patterns, and from those patterns came life lessons. Lessons were sometimes painfully obvious in hindsight, but that’s the beauty of journaling — learning to laugh at all the small absurdities you’d otherwise miss.

Journaling: A Therapy with No Hourly Rates

One big reason journaling has a leg up over traditional therapy? It’s free. All you need is a notebook (or a napkin, if we’re being honest here) and a pen. When life throws you curveballs, you can spill your heart out without scheduling an appointment or paying a fee. Writing becomes a self-guided journey where you’re both the therapist and the client — except this therapist lets you go off on tangents, over-analyze, and doesn’t care if you end a sentence with a preposition.