How Journaling Can Help Reduce Stress
Journaling can be a daunting and scary activity because you just don’t know what is going to come out once pen hits paper.
When barriers do come up (i.e., feelings of fear, thoughts that it doesn’t work, or why bother), I find it helpful to look into the research to help motivate me to take action.
I found this amazing article written for nurses and how journaling was used to help support them in preventing burn out, compassion fatigue and more. Some key takeaways from the article were:
Journaling can help process stressful events and help you articulate and understand your own feelings. This one rang so true for me. If I leave the feelings in my own mind I get confused and may actually attribute them to something completely out of context.
Journaling can help you get more in touch with your own thoughts and help you make decisions. Yes! I love this one. Journaling has helped me find distance from my thoughts and determine the importance of them. Sometimes thoughts can be just noise and it is our choice to listen to them or let them float on by.
Journaling can help you to clear your inner most thoughts and feelings without pressure to act or fix it. I find this one so helpful - sometimes a thought is just a though and there doesn’t need to be an immediate reaction to fix or get rid of it.
Journaling can help you “rant” without passing the energy to others and impacting those important relationships. This is something I also can 100% relate to. I have been the ranter and the rantee and both are so draining. I can be having the best day and a friend or colleague needs to rant. It can turn my day completely upside down and cause me unnecessary stress and exhaustion.
Journaling can help reduce the risk of burn out and overall stress. How amazing right? I have been in burn out and I wonder if journaling could have helped mitigate that for me.
Lastly, Journaling can support your ability to show up for others and reduce the risk of developing compassion fatigue. Journaling is the ultimate showing up for yourself activity. This is where you can let go of all of the thoughts/feelings/opinions without judgement. If you are in a service job, it may be time to get yourself a notebook and start free writing. I am always curious to see what comes up.
Here are a few of my favourite journals and notebooks!
Self-Love Journal - for those that love prompts. Use code NICOLE20 for a 20% discount!
STIL Daily Journal - this one is simple and has some nice prompts!
Lined Paper Journals! - this is for the free writers!
xoxo, Nicole
References
Dimitroff, Sliwoski, Brien, & Nichols (2016). Change your life through journaling--The benefits of journaling for registered nurses. Journal of Nursing Education and Practice, 7, 2.)
This article does not constitute medical advice. Consult your doctor or medical practitioner if there are any medical or mental health concerns.
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