How to Find Yourself Through Journaling
Have you been wondering how you can find yourself?
Perhaps you’ve lost yourself in your various roles — mother, daughter, wife, friend, professional, leader, teacher, student, colleague etc — and you are realising now that you don’t know who you are and what you really want.
You’ve been adopting other people’s opinions, in order to fit in. Everyone else’s except your own truth!
It’s been a long time since you have any vague memory of what you really wanted. Your childhood dreams vanished without a trace. You’ve left them far behind.
Whatever the situation is, you no longer know how to make sense of who you are and very importantly, what direction to take from here.
Feeling stuck, lousy, and clueless — it’s a crisis you are facing!
Well, I believe that everyone shines best when they are their authentic selves. And it starts with knowing themselves well.
For the longest time, I have had that pain or ache of “not knowing myself” well. At one stage, I couldn’t even sleep. The pain of emptiness, not having a strong sense of self, knowing who I was or what I really wanted. I felt stuck and did not know what my purpose in life was.
Fortunately, I experienced a turnaround when I started to heal emotionally.
One tool that I discovered produced huge benefits for me: Journaling.
Journaling was a way that helped me process what I was feeling and thinking. It was chocolate melting away any discomfort I was experiencing. It helped me with clearing my head, from getting my thoughts to paper. I could write freely, with no one to judge or criticise what I had to say — including myself.
It was truly a way that is low-cost, fast and powerful.
I found out that I don’t have to take expensive “Eat Pray Love” trips around the world to discover myself. Although it will be nice :-)
Or dot my “i”s or be mindful of grammer (or is it grammar?) if I don’t wish to when writing my journals.
At the same time, I felt a lot more at ease, alive and connected with the truth of my being.
By keeping journal records, it becomes a lot easier to keep track of my past achievements. In the past, when life took over, I would forget what these are. I could not recall all the tiny accomplishments, the baby steps and the small triumphs I’ve made. It would feel like I had a brain fog or something. It happened when my self-esteem meter was low.
On the contrary, after keeping journals, I discovered that they serve as reminders for recounting the wins. They are especially helpful when a blizzard of self-doubt hits. I can simply turn the pages and pat myself as I reflect on how far I have come.
Journaling helped me to retrace my memories. Along pathways, I became connected to childhood dreams, forgotten ideas and secret fantasies. The more I wrote, the more I discovered a inner world that was rich, engaging and expansive.
In a nutshell, journaling helped me reclaim myself. It wasn’t just once. As a practice, it was something that I can turn to over and over again.
Because of how beneficial journaling has helped me, I am now on mission to share more about it. It was what led me to write my book Self-Discovery Journal for Women. I created a guide for others on how they can get started and with writing prompts to spark off ideas.
Journaling is a low or no-cost writing therapy tool that can help you transform your life in the mind, body and spirit, and from the inside-out. — Self Discovery Journal for Women
Hopefully journaling can help you too. You’d feel empowered to know that you already have the answers that you seek. Journaling can provide you a space for solace whenever you need one. Most importantly, you’d discover a lot more about yourself that you’ve not known before.
May you journal from sadness into joy, fear into love, and darkness!
