Does Journalling Everyday Really Help?
Life is too short to be sucked into a pit of despair and hurts.
Writing with my hands became pretty difficult over the past year.
I don’t know why, maybe it’s age or ‘writing laziness’, but I switched to writing random journals on my Google Keep app instead.
And I honestly did not miss journalling every day.
A little backstory
Don’t get me wrong; I love journalling.
I was the girl that would buy tons of jotters and coloured pencils so I could cutely represent my thoughts on paper. I enjoy journalling.
But the older I grow and reflect on my past journal entries, I realize that some memories and pains are better not recorded.
They take you back to the mental state you were in, can steer up anxiety and remind you of pain already forgotten.
While it is important to reflect on the bad times, life is too short to be constantly sucked into a pit of despair and past hurts.
Live in the moment. Pick up lessons from the part and prepare for the tomorrow you desire.
A better way out.
Instead of recording trails of hurts and sadness, reflect on each unhappy situation and write down the lessons you learnt instead.
Give your future self a message of hope.
Sort out your feelings by speaking to yourself, or scribbling down your thoughts on a random piece of paper. But don’t let your messed up feelings feelings follow you into the future.
Yes, they may help.
But they usually do more harm than good, especially if you’ve not grown and developed a healthy hindsight view of experiences — whether happiness or sadness.
I’ve recently picked up daily paper journalling again. I need to fill a book with beautiful memoirs of my life again. But I find sorting out my feelings by talking with trusted people or doing an internal reflection more effective.
It may be a little different for you, and that’s okay.
But don’t make daily journalling an excuse to carry the past into the present, and sulk on it.
Sift out the good, have healthy relationships that allow you to process your feelings, and choose to keep only the good memories.
