The Power of Journaling

When I was a kid, I remember my teachers and my parents mentioning that I should maintain a diary to manage my emotions because I was someone who used to get easily overwhelmed, had trouble with change of environment, and had self-esteem issues. And as an “obedient” kid, I would start the task but as a procrastinator, I would give up after three days and say to myself “I’ll just do it tomorrow”. 

I always felt writing my emotions down will make me weak and that ignorance is bliss. And that worked out great for me; if I faced any difficult situation, I would just label them as incidents that didn’t “spark joy”. I ignored how I felt like one would ignore a person asking you to make a donation in a mall. And if there were days I felt too pathetic, I would overshare everything with my best friend and call it a day.

It wasn’t until I moved out of my home state that I realised how difficult it can be to manage a flood of emotions. Especially, when the water isn’t flowing from one direction but every direction possible and doing its best to drown you. And I wasn’t a trained swimmer. The overwhelming emotions eat you up so badly sometimes that even when you have a lot going on in your mind, you can’t make a clear and concise statement to explain how you’re feeling. You go numb and feel as if there’s no point in explaining because there’s no way that person will understand the gravity of your situation. The most they can do is console you or give you solutions. But there are days when you feel you just need to keep rambling without hearing a word and that can be an unrealistic expectation to set on someone.

I didn’t want to bother anyone. I went completely silent. I felt helpless. Moving to a new city wasn’t as exciting as I expected it to be. So I made the difficult decision, I picked up that diary I had gotten to prepare my budget to start my journey of journaling. Initially, I thought I won’t have anything to write. I gave up a few times before I started but once I did, I was unstoppable. I was writing things that I had been subconsciously ignoring and things I wouldn’t dare speak in front of a living being. And once I was done, I felt as if someone lifted a mountain that was resting on my chest for a week. 

I was not a believer in journaling every day and I know many of us aren’t. We call it stupid, a waste of time and that journaling makes us even more “emotional”. We are so terrified of facing emotions that we repress them until that flood comes along. But why wait till that very moment of almost drowning? It’s always good to take up swimming lessons! 

Journaling isn’t something that people with weak minds do. It takes a lot of mental strength to truly express how you feel. I believe it is important for your well-being and self-growth. It can help you manage your emotions better, it can open up your eyes in ways you never thought was possible and it can certainly guide you to become a better person. Apart from that journaling daily also helps you to be more expressive, communicate better, make you disciplined, and benefit your writing skills as well. 

I know taking this initiative can be tough, especially when there is no external force. But trust me you need this because one day when you’ll go through those pages you will realise how far you have come and how much farther you need to go.