2min Stress Management Series (#3) Journaling with a Twist

Let’s talk about Journaling with a twist! Journaling, people love it or hate it! When I was a kid I wrote in my diary every day. Then, I locked it up tight with all of my super secret stuff in there. You know the kind of secrets I mean! Things like, the name of the boy I liked or the stories I would make up. I even wrote poems in it. It was a very positive thing for me. Now, since working in the mental health field I have learned that for some, Journaling can be time consuming and even toxic!

There can be a lot of benefits to journaling. We’ve all heard that journals help people create positive changes in their daily lives. I can share from experience personally and professionally that they are great tools to use in combination with counseling, (talk to your counselor about how your journaling, why, and how it feels to do it). People who journal also use them for habit and behavior tracking, processing difficult moments, time management, and holding space for the good things too! I aim to be old fashioned! For any kind of planning and processing I write with pen and paper! If pen and paper aren’t your thing, you might try a digital journal.

If you’ve felt like journaling might be helpful but needed a different way to go about it, try Journaling with a Twist! Have you ever found yourself trying to journal only to be sucked down a rabbit hole of negativity? I can tell you with certainty that, you are not alone. Here’s a couple of alternatives for you.

Prompted Journaling

Prompted journals give you space to process your feelings with guidance. Additionally, they can help you narrow in on what you really want to do with your journal. This type of journal will typically have a purpose such as letting things go, gratitude, positivity, creating connections, and so on. They allow the writer to narrow in and to journal with intention. This will help to keep you in a useful, productive space, rather than a negativity vortex. Below are some suggestions that can done with your kiddos or just for you! If prompted journaling sounds worth a try for you check these out!

Positivity and Gratitude Journaling

Here’s a not so fun fact! Did you know that as humans, our brains have been trained over the generations to be hyper aware of threat? When you think about it, it’s not hard to get swept away in thoughts of world news. Anyone can get overwhelmed thinking about homelessness, crime, global climate change, your own relationship stress, the stress of being a parent, diet culture, feeling lost in parenthood, work stress, the list goes on and on and on. Also, social media can really throw us for a loop mentally and emotionally! So, with all the bad we need to put in some intentional effort, only then can we turn our attention to the positive. It’s just so easy to forget that positive things happen all around us, every day. It’s the little things. Things such as, the sun coming out after a series of cloudy days, someone holding the door for you, someone smiling and saying, “good morning,” seeing a beautiful leaf, flower or bird, and so on.

I find it so important to remind myself and the college students I work with to let in the small moments that are often over-looked or taken for granted. Using this method of journaling with a twist helps us to increase our awareness and make room for the positive things as well. Doing this helps the not so great stuff to feel a lot easier to handle and a little bit quieter. Try giving yourself permission to create space for positivity and gratitude.

However you choose to journal, think about setting the stage for a positive experience! Notice colors that you’re drawn to, materials you enjoy using and ways to brighten up your space and your experience with trying journaling with a twist! You might think about trying markers, colorful pens, colored pencils, stickers, and stencils. Choose a journal that brings your joy and is visually appealing. I personally love things like these Rose Gold Sparkly Pens, fun stickers, and bullet journal stencils. If you’re wanting an app instead of a physical journal check out this article, in Self.

Try Journaling with a twist with these:

Check here for another post in this series soon! I hope that you are finding helpful, easy to access tools for managing stress! For more info on journaling check out this article at verywellhealth.com

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