5 Benefits of Journaling in Your 20s
Journaling is an ancient tradition, dating back to the 10th century in Japan. Successful people such as, Leonardo Da Vinci, Mark Twain, Charles Darwin, and Thomas Edison, all had something in common. You guessed it! Journaling.
Although there are many types of journaling, today, we’re going to focus on journaling for emotional processing. This practice includes writing down your thoughts and feelings about stressful events (just as you would in therapy) and attempting to rationalize the situation to create solutions. It could also be writing about a positive experience, to savour the moment as much as possible.
In order to experience the most benefits from journaling, it is best to practice consistently. However, it is still possible to improve one’s wellbeing from occasional journaling. Whether you want to reduce stress in your life, or simply gain more self-knowledge, journaling is a great practice to start in your 20s for boosting personal growth!
1. Better Emotional Regulation
When journaling about a stressful situation, you begin to engage both hemispheres of your brain. The right side of your brain, where your feelings, intuition, imagination lives, operates unconsciously, On the other hand, your left side is the analytical, logical part of yourself, which is accessed consciously.
If only your right hemisphere is stimulated, it’s easy to get lost and overwhelmed by the emotions without understanding what’s happening.
Journaling however, helps you processes your emotions better by specifically accessing your left hemisphere, and transforming your unconscious thoughts and feelings (right hemisphere) into writing.
2. Reduces Stress
Writing down negative thoughts and feelings from a stressful experience provides a sense of catharsis. For this reason, journaling may be a great way to provide a psychological release for those who struggle with vulnerability in relationships.
Warning
Make sure to end your journaling session on a positive note.
If you only talk about negative things without providing a solution, expressing gratitude or bringing up a positive situation, your stress levels may become even worse.
Why? Because of something called your Reticular Activating System (RAS). Your RAS is a bundle of nerves in your brainstem that sort through unnecessary stimuli according to what you focus on, or what is most important to you.
If you believe your life is hopeless and only write about bad moments, your RAS will discard anything positive in your life to support that belief.
Convince your brain that there is good in this world and watch your life transform.
3. Better Problem-Solving Skills
As mentioned earlier, journaling accesses both sides of your brain to gain better clarity, and as a result, create better solutions.
Everytime you problem-solve, your brain evolves just a little bit more. Critical thinking allows your brain to form and reorganize neuronal connections, especially when following an injury/stressful event/mistake, etc. The process is known as neuroplasticity, which usually occurs in your amygdala (the part of your brain that controls emotions) when you journal.
New connections also develop in patients who participate in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT). This happens because of “cognitive restructuring” when you identify stressful thoughts and replace them with more productive ones.
Whether you do this during therapy or journaling, it is a key component in emotional development.
4. Resolve Disagreements Quicker
For a highly reactive person, journaling may be great to do before you bring up a disagreement with someone. When you’re emotionally reactive and defensive, your ego has taken over. Rather than blow up with anger, spend a few minutes journaling about the situation and find ways to come out of this without saying something you might regret later.
This practice allows you to get out of your head(ego) and become aware of what’s really happening:
Maybe a boundary needs to be set with them?
Maybe they triggered something within you that still needs to be healed?
Maybe the argument is due to resentment from something they did a while ago?
5. Promotes Healthier Lifestyle
Since journaling requires a certain level of consciousness, there is also the promotion of self-awareness and self-knowledge. You begin to understand your own values, strengths, weaknesses, feelings, behaviours, and thoughts in certain situations. You also become aware of how you affect those around you.
This understanding allows you to create a healthier lifestyle for greater happiness, better relationships, less stress, higher self-esteem, and more.
I hope this article helps motivate you to start journaling! If you enjoyed this article, follow us on social media to connect with like-minded people who share your interests!
