Want to know the anatomy of how to journal for self growth? These are the highly recommended methods of exactly how to do that.
You may have heard that journaling is extremely beneficial, but it can also feel overwhelming when you want to start. In this blog, we will guide you through the anatomy of journaling to help you on your journey of self growth.
You will learn exactly how to journal for self growth by learning what you should know before you start, what you should be journaling about and how to make sure you continue on your journaling journey.
This post is all about the anatomy of how to journal for self growth.
How to Journal for Self Growth.
3 things to know before you start.
1) Why you should journal.
If you’ve ever read a self-help book talking about the habits of successful people, journaling will be up there with the best of them.
There are several benefits gained from journaling, my personal favourites are;
- Helps with stress and anxiety.
Have you ever had a thought continuously whirling around in your head? When it’s a negative thought always cropping up, it can take us down a negative spiral and build up.
What can help is to jot it down because this can help us to actively acknowledge the thought and also a ‘problem shared is a problem halved.’
You don’t always need to share it with a friend, sometimes just getting it out on paper can help you accept the thought. - You can notice personal behaviour patterns.
When you are acknowledging your emotions and feelings each day, along with what’s currently happening in your life, you can start to notice good and bad behaviour patterns. This new self-awareness can help guide your actions in the future and help you to stop bad ones before they begin to snowball. - Helps to build confidence.
Journaling as you are working towards a goal can help you recognise the progress you are making, helping to build your self-efficacy and in turn your confidence.
Write as poetic or as shorthand as you like.
When I first began journaling I felt a pressure to create some inspirational biography. Like I would be turning my journal into the publisher and it had to be a masterpiece. It took me some time to realise that it didn’t have to always be a poetic account of my day or my thought, it could literally be bullet points.
Which leads me to the final thing to know before starting…
Journaling is not a one size fits all.
To find out how journaling can benefit you, you should try all the different ways to journal and find the journaling journey that suits you. Why not try journaling in the morning, midday, after work or just before bed?
Try journaling in different forms from bullet points to poems, to pictures or audio notes.
Give them all a try and see which one feels right for you.
The best way for me to journal is to put my headphones in, hit the record button on my phone and go for a walk.
Every day I check in on what I call my ‘mental health walk’, which leads us to our next topic in the anatomy of journaling for self growth…
What to journal about.
How you feel and where your mental health is currently.
I find the best way to start is to ramble, I get it all off my chest, highs and lows of the day before, anything that I’ve witnessed or experienced. If something is making me angry I get it all out.
Some days, however, I find I don’t have much to get off my chest, and so I start with a scale. I note how I feel on a scale of one to ten, and I try to figure out why I am where I am on the scale. If I’m feeling good, I try to get to the reason behind the good feeling.
If I’m lower on the scale heading towards a one, I take a look at the next thing to journal about…
What are the problems you are facing and how can you tackle them?
We noted at the start that thoughts whizzing around our head, or worse, thoughts that we tried to bury can really take their toll on us even if we aren’t aware of it.
Take note of any thoughts you might have about the future and what you can do now to deal with it or acknowledge it.
If something is bothering you, you can write down multiple solutions to the problem. This will in turn help you to come to the best solution.
Writing out problems before they can get too big can really help us even out our emotions. We can use this to prepare ourselves for a greater future.
Once you’re feeling settled on your emotions, this is when I find it best to move into the next thing to journal about.
Your five current goals.
Life can get so hectic and you can often find yourself bouncing from one thing to another. Before you know it months have passed and you haven’t got around to the things you wanted to. I find bringing a daily awareness to the things you hope to achieve can keep you on task and motivated.
These five goals can be big five-year goals or smaller monthly goals, it’s all about you!
Take a moment when you first journal to write out five goals you hope to achieve. Whether you’re feeling up for bigger goals or just want to start with the smaller ones like… ‘I enjoy a moment’s peace with a cup of tea each day.’
Once you’ve decided on your goals, have a moment in each journal entry to bring awareness to them.
What you’re grateful for.
The benefits experienced from practising gratitude are luminous. But if you only do it for one reason let it be this, practising gratitude can help move our thoughts towards the positive and help us experience a happier way of life.
I find starting my journal with a rant before moving on to gratitude sets me up to leave my journaling in a more positive mindset. Setting myself up to end like this will leave me with a better determination to move through the day.
Take a moment to think about what things happened over the past day that you are thankful for. Think about what events you have coming up that you are thankful for, who in your life are you thankful for?
Your goals for the day ahead.
We discussed earlier that one size doesn’t fit all meaning you should experiment with the different times of day you journal. For me, I personally enjoy journaling midday, this way I can experience a midday reset and recharge. But whatever time of day you decide to journal this section can still apply to you. Whether you’re talking about the day ahead today or tomorrow.
To wrap up my journaling session I take note of everything I have gotten out of my mind and use that information to make my goals for the rest of the day. This could look different for each day. Some days journaling might bring an awareness that I’m feeling burnt out. Once this is brought to my attention I can practise a slower way of living for the rest of the day. Or the session could bring about a newfound determination and motivation to achieve a lot in the day.
Either way, use your journaling to help you plan for a better day ahead for you. Whichever way it needs to go, and whichever priorities you need to set.
How to continue on your journal journey.
To begin your journaling journey, set yourself a goal of journaling for two weeks. In these two weeks, have an awareness of where your mental clarity and health started and where it progresses to.
Since you are journaling, this should be easy with the self-reflections you will be practising. Once you start to see the benefits journaling has on not only your self-growth, but also your mental health, this will hopefully give you the motivation to continue on your journey. But if not…
Make it a task you look forward to and want to do.
Don’t forget to try on each style of journaling. Journaling shouldn’t feel like a chore, it should feel like something you want to do and look forward to. If it feels like a chore to you, start to experiment with ways to make it more enjoyable to you. Whether that involves lighting candles and playing some ambient Lofi music, or sitting down with a cup of tea. Find the most enjoyable way for you to filter through your thoughts and aid your journey of self-growth.
This post was all about the Anatomy of How to Journal for Self Growth.
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