The 5 Journaling Techniques That Changed My Life
If you are anything like me you’ve probably googled things like…
“Why does my brain hurt” or “How do I stop feeling so sad” or my personal favourite “oh god I hate it here unnngghhhh why does my life suck so bad?”
You know…… the classics!
and if you’ve googled any of these you’ve probably come across advice that just says…
“Journal”
But how do you do it if you’ve never done it before?
In the next 3 minutes, I am going to teach you how journaling can help you…
Improve focus
Manage anxiety
Gain mental clarity
Deal with grief and loss
Shine a light on things you weren’t aware of
But before I do that I am going to tell you a little bit more about the person I was before journalling…
Just to pre-warn you, I am going to talk about
Break Ups
Depression
Narcissistic Abuse
If you’d rather just skip to the tips then you probably want to scroll a little further down OK?
Cool
Cast your mind back to May 2020.
The UK had just gone into its first ULTRA MEGA LOCKDOWN.
People were spraying their groceries with disinfectant (weirdos) and you were probably having fun fighting total strangers for toilet paper in the supermarket….a simpler time.
Unfortunately for me, I was in the eye of the storm in what turned out to be the worst week of my life.
I was April 2020 and the pandemic was in Season 1 Episode 1 and my life was hit with a surprise and very gnarly breakup.
I’ll spare you the deets but google “Narcissistic Personality Disorder”.
It’s an epic level 15 sh*t storm.
Fast forward five weeks and I was in a new home in a new town and still in shock.
I couldn’t sleep (thanks PTSD)
I couldn’t leave the house (thanks Boris)
I couldn’t see my friends or family (thanks COVID)
My game of life was set to Nightmare Mode.
OK SO….
HERE’S WHERE JOURNALLING ENTERS THE STORY
At the time I was devouring books on Psychology and Complex PTSD in an attempt to understand what the hell I'd just been through (it was a trauma response).
I was reading everything on…
Trauma
Cultural conditioning
Psychological Manipulation
Narcissism and Psychopathy
I was reading and taking on way too much content.
I had a compulsive need to understand wtf had just happened to me.
I was intellectualising things. It was too much to process.
Too much information coming in.
Not enough content going out.
I had to change that…
So I sat down and took out a piece of paper and the words just poured out of my brain onto the paper.
and my god was there a lot of them…
I got it all out of my head and felt the calm.
for a day...
then I did the same the next day.
and again.
and again.
but the thoughts wouldn’t stop…
It was then I realised that journaling wasn’t a one-off thing it was a daily practice!
It became my go-to whenever life went maaaaaad.
Almost like my secret ninja skill whenever I needed to karate kick problems in the neck.
Wooopaaaah!
Over the next two years, I came up with all sorts of techniques and exercises
These are the ones I like best…
Journal Tip 1 — Brainstorm Journalling
Write the date in the middle of the page and draw a bubble around it.
Get everything out of your head and onto the page.
Get messy.
Do it last thing at night to help your mind settle.
Journal Tip 2 — Mindset Shift Journalling
I can get a bit obsessed so forcing my mind onto a different topic can really create some much-needed mental space.
By focusing on others we allow our minds a break from overthinking.
Prompt
How can I make someone else happy right now?
Journal Tip 3 — Daily Reflection Journaling
This is just a great debrief at the end of the day.
Prompts
What did I enjoy today?
What drained me?
What did I learn?
What can I do better tomorrow?
Journal Tip 4 — Sh*t Happens Journalling
When something bad happens it’s best to be prepared. When we are so close it’s difficult to be objective
Prompts
What happened objectively?
What did I make it mean?
How would I help a friend if this happened to them?
Journal Tip 5- Courageous Journalling
I love this one and it really gets you to think outside of yourself and is a great opportunity to dream a little
Prompts
How would my life look if I chose to be more courageous? — Really sit with this question.
What would the bravest version of you do in all areas of your life?
What is holding you back from doing those things?
So you’ve got some tips, and plenty of prompts now all you need is to find a quiet spot and get writing.
Thanks for reading!
Catch me on any of the below…
