8 Reasons You Should be Journaling Right Now, Ft. Blue Fever

Don’t even talk to me. I’m, like, literally flourishing at the moment.

1. It’s cathartic

It has been empirically proven that the mechanical action of writing words you know and thoughts you feel is one of the most relaxing things known to man. In helping you lower your stress levels, journaling can improve cognitive functioning, strengthen your immune system, boost your mood. The physical writing portion has also been proven to help in healing from both arthritis and psychological trauma. Besides, a team from New Zealand has published the groundbreaking claim that it helps you heal faster from actual, physical wounds. What? The explanation we have so far is that journaling is a bit like happy dominoes: processing daily events and upsetting moments in journaling (aka expressive writing) triggers a more uplifted mood and better sleeping patterns at night, which go on to affect your immune system and concentration during the day. If that’s not a win-win hobby/self-care activity, we don’t know what is.

2. It’s a great way to organize everything

Journaling (and bullet journaling) has been all the craze recently. Whether your aesthetic is more Pinterest-y with several color-coded pens and RISD-worthy doodles or more lowkey with just a black scrawl of words over a simple notebook, journaling is a way to organize things visually. A calendar. A list. A mindmap. Whatever it may be, you’ll find yourself operating with a great deal more organization and efficiency from now on, whether in school, at work, or at home.

3. Doodling

Here’s a super 2012 thing to bring clarity and abject horror to your humdrum life for a quick sec. If you drew huge, photo-realistic eyes in the margins of your school notebooks as a kid: we know you and we see you. It’s time to move on to bigger and better things, honey.

4. It’s a fancy hobby to brag about

In my middle school years, the most popular kids had the best Muji pens for bullet journaling and picture-perfect notes. Now that we’re older, the wow factor is still there. Journaling is surprisingly cool. Need we say more?

5. Your friends all do it

If I could get a quarter for every time a friend has declared journaling to be a “dumb, narcissistic thing for kids” and then jumped on the bullet journaling bandwagon, I would have, like, a dollar or something.

But seriously. All my friends have journaled at some point or the other. Haven’t you heard them say how it’s so calming, or nice, or life-changing? I have. Journaling is a great common language to have among friends. In fact, I first tried journaling because of how much my friends all raved about it. And I haven’t looked back since.

6. It’s a great creative outlet

Virginia Woolf once said that keeping a diary was a way to “loosen the ligaments” of creativity. It’s like a good stretch every once in a while where you can hear all your bones crack simultaneously. As many famous creatives throughout history can testify to, journaling is awesome for all those creative juices to come rushing in. Are you an aspiring writer, poet, or musician? Jot down tidbits of your life, think about your most memorable moments. Imagine your past life as a dandelion, contemplate David Bowie’s “Life on Mars?”. If Joan Didion could keep a notebook, so can you. You never know where a few absentminded musings might bring you.

7. It’s a good way to record down memories for future-you

Many people keep journals for the sake of looking back to their previous selves. Maybe because it’s sentimental and nostalgic, but also because it’s interesting to realize: wow, I really liked apple-flavored jelly beans as a kid, huh. Other writers, of course, use their diaries for more serious endeavors. The meta-diarist Sarah Manguso wrote a whole book about her diary — the result of over 25 years worth of journaling — reflecting upon jolly things like memory and time and the self and mortality. So, it works both ways, if you’d like it to.

8. That’s what Blue Fever is for!

Pocket-sized support groups, anonymous journals, and customizable stickers and gifs? It’s all on Blue Fever. As an app designed to boost your mental health and shield you from toxicity, Blue Fever was created by big siblings who wanted to help others find — and embrace as their true self. What better way to do it than to find a supportive community?

Download Blue Fever, rated 4.8 stars, on the App Store now!

Rachel Liu is a gap year student at the University of Chicago, where she majors in Political Science and English. As a Content and Social Media intern at Trill, she writes and publishes content, tweets, works on influencer and press outreach, conducts Trilltalks, and brings more eyes to the app! She likes to say that she doesn’t have free time, but when she’s not too busy thinking about her future as an unemployed adventurer, she enjoys connecting with others, journaling, reading, practicing yoga, and listening to podcasts.

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